Thematic response to a computer user&#39;s context, such as by a wearable personal computer

ABSTRACT

Techniques are disclosed for creating, modifying, categorizing, modeling, distributing, purchasing, selling, and otherwise using themes and theme-related information. Themes can represent various types of contextual aspects or situations, and can model high-level concepts of activities or states not reflected in individual contextual attributes that each model a single aspect of the state of a user, their computing device, the surrounding physical environment, and/or the current cyber-environment. Such themes specify inter-relationships among a set of contextual attributes, and can have associated theme-related information such as theme-specific attributes, theme layouts used to present information and functionality, CSes that provide theme attribute values, and CCs that process theme information. Disclosed techniques can identify one or more themes that currently match the modeled context, select one of the matching themes as a current theme, and provide an appropriate response (e.g., by presenting appropriate information and/or providing appropriate functionality) based on the current theme.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 09/216,193 (Attorney Docket No. 29443-8001), filedDec. 18, 1998 and entitled “Method and System for ControllingPresentation of Information to a User Based on the User's Condition”; ofU.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/464,659 (Attorney Docket No.29443-8003), filed Dec. 15, 1999 and entitled “Storing and RecallingInformation to Augment Human Memories”; and of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 09/724,902 (Attorney Docket No. 29443-8002), filed Nov. 28,2000 and entitled “Dynamically Exchanging Computer User's Context,”which claims the benefit of provisional U.S. patent application Ser. No.60/194,006 filed Apr. 2, 2000. Each of these applications are herebyincorporated by reference in their entirety.

[0002] This application also claims the benefit of provisional U.S.patent application Ser. No. 60/193,999 (Attorney Docket #29443-8008),filed Apr. 2, 2000 and entitled “Obtaining And Using Contextual Data ForSelected Tasks Or Scenarios, Such As For A Wearable Personal Computer,”and of provisional U.S. patent application Ser. No. 60/194,123 (AttorneyDocket #29443-8024), filed Apr. 2, 2000 and entitled “Supplying AndConsuming User Context Data,” both of which are hereby incorporated byreference in their entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0003] The invention described below relates generally to gathering andusing contextual information, such as information about a user and theuser's surroundings.

BACKGROUND

[0004] Existing computer systems provide little appreciation of a user'soverall condition or context, and as a result they can effectivelyrespond to only a limited number of changes in parameters that theymonitor. For example, with respect to the low-level physical status ofthe user, numerous devices exist for monitoring the physical parametersof the user, such as heart rate monitors that provide user pulse orheart rate data. While many of these devices simply provide informationto the user regarding current values of a user's health condition,others (e.g., a defibrillator or a system with an alarm) are capable ofproviding a corresponding response if a monitored parameter exceeds (orfalls below) a threshold value. However, since such devices lackimportant information about the specific context of the user (e.g.,whether the user is currently exercising or is currently sick), anyresponse will attempt to accommodate a wide range of user contexts andis thus unlikely to be optimal for the specific context of the user. Forexample, a defibrillator may provide too great or too small of aresuscitating charge simply because only one or a small number ofparameters of a person are being monitored.

[0005] In a similar manner, existing computer systems have littleappreciation for a user's current mental and emotional state, or forhigher-level abstractions of a user's physical activity (e.g., goingjogging or driving an automobile), and as a result are generallyineffective at anticipating tasks that a user is likely to perform orinformation that a user is likely to desire. In particular, sinceexisting computer systems lack information about a user's currentcontext, they cannot provide information appropriate to that context oranticipate likely changes in the context.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0006]FIG. 1 illustrates a user with an embodiment of a specializedcharacterization system operating, at least in part, on a wearablecomputer platform.

[0007]FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the specialized characterizationsystem of FIG. 1 having specialized context servers and clients.

[0008]FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating code modules, such ascontext servers and clients, acting in conjunction with acharacterization module (CM).

[0009]FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating basic steps for generatingattributes and providing output to a user based on the system of FIG. 3.

[0010]FIG. 5A is a flow diagram illustrating a context server forgenerating latitude, longitude and altitude attributes.

[0011]FIG. 5B is a data structure diagram illustrating fields orportions of a latitude attribute.

[0012]FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating a context client for usinglatitude, longitude and altitude attributes.

[0013]FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating how attributes arederived based on input data sources.

[0014]FIG. 8 is a hierarchical list of attributes.

[0015]FIG. 9 is an alternative hierarchical list of attributes.

[0016]FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of acomputing device suitable for using theme and theme layout informationto present appropriate information and functionality to a user based onthe current context.

[0017] FIGS. 11A-11L provide various examples of changing theme layoutpresentations based on changes to a current context.

[0018] FIGS. 11M-11O provide examples of a user interface for a user toexplicitly control various theme-related information.

[0019] FIGS. 12A-12H provide examples of a user interface for a user toexplicitly specify context information.

[0020]FIG. 13 provides an example of a theme data structure.

[0021]FIG. 14 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of acomputing device suitable for distributing themes and theme-relatedinformation to various user computing devices.

[0022]FIG. 15 is a flow diagram of an embodiment of the Theme Usageroutine.

[0023]FIG. 16 is a flow diagram of an embodiment of the ResponseGenerator subroutine.

[0024]FIG. 17 is a flow diagram of an embodiment of the ThemeCreator/Modifier routine.

[0025]FIG. 18 is a flow diagram of an embodiment of the ThemeDistributor routine.

[0026]FIG. 19 is a flow diagram of an embodiment of the Theme Receiverroutine.

[0027]FIG. 20 is a flow diagram of an embodiment of the Automated ThemeCustomizer routine.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0028] The following description provides specific details for athorough understanding of, and enabling description for, embodiments ofthe invention. However, one skilled in the relevant art will understandthat the invention may be practiced without these details. In otherinstances, well known structures and functions have not been shown ordescribed in detail to avoid unnecessarily obscuring embodiments of theinvention.

[0029] Techniques are described for creating, modifying, analyzing,characterizing, distributing, modeling, and using themes that representa context of a user. The themes each include related sets of attributesthat reflect the context of the user, including: (1) the user's mentalstate, emotional state, and physical or health condition; (2) the user'ssetting, situation or physical environment (including factors externalto the user that can be observed and/or manipulated by the user, such asthe state of the user's wearable computer); and (3) the user's logicaland data telecommunications environment (or “cyber-environment,”including information such as email addresses, nearby telecommunicationsaccess such as cell sites, wireless computer ports, etc.).

[0030] Such themes may be employed by various computing devices,although much of the following description focuses on wearable computersas an example. Wearable computers find enhanced benefit over fixedlocation computers by often being more context aware or able tointelligently interpret attributes, thereby more fully utilizing thecapabilities of the wearable computer. Many computing applications,including those running on wearable computers, act as context consumersor attribute clients in that they use such contextual attributeinformation to deliver context-aware functionality to end users. Many ofthese applications may use the same context information (i.e., the sameattribute or sets of attributes).

[0031] Described below is a general framework related to using contextthemes. In some embodiments, a theme may consolidate one or more contextsources and context consumers specific to the theme. Modules thatprovide attributes are generally referred to as context servers (CS),while modules that process attributes are generally referred to ascontext clients (CC). As described below, a characterization module (CM)acts as an attribute exchange mechanism for context information betweensuch CS and CC applications or “code modules.” The terms context server,context client and characterization module, and CS, CC and CM aregenerally used interchangeably herein.

[0032] Each of the context servers receive data signals from inputdevices or other sources and then process such signals to producecontext information expressed within fundamental data structures called“attributes”. Attributes represent measures of specific context elementssuch as ambient temperature, latitude, and current user task. Eachattribute has a name and at least one value, and can additionally haveother properties such as uncertainty, units and timestamp. As generallyused herein, an “attribute” refers to a modeled aspect or element of theuser's condition or context. The terms “attribute” and “conditionvariable” are generally used interchangeably herein. Further details onattributes are described below.

[0033] In the general framework described in greater detail below,context servers provide attribute values and/or themes to the CM, whichin turn provides some or all of such information to the context clients.This general context framework encourages development of more abstractcontext information from simple data signals provided by input devices,because it provides a standard mechanism for the exchange of attributevalues provided by context servers. For example, simple contextinformation such as location signals provided by a global positioningsystem (GPS) receiver can be combined with other information such asambient noise signals and video input cues to answer more abstractcontext questions such as “How busy am I?” or “What is my currentactivity?”. In particular, GPS signals may indicate over time that auser is traveling at 30 m.p.h. and the wearable computer may recognizeambient noise as engine sounds, and thus recognize that the user isdriving a car. Thus, such abstract context questions can be moreintelligently answered using this contextual framework. Themes thatinclude sets of multiple related attributes further enhance thecontextual framework by permitting context clients or other code modulesto provide a quantification or qualification of a useful context of theuser that can not be directly measured from any attribute values in theset individually.

[0034] Simply providing a common exchange mechanism for usefulinformation does not, in itself, promote interoperability. To fullyrealize separation of tasks and resulting interoperability, the contextservers and context clients will preferably speak a common language, andthus a common naming convention is used for attributes. Importantly, bystandardizing attributes, context clients may share attributes providedby context servers. Furthermore, themes provided by one or more contextservers may be processed by context clients independently of otherthemes processed by other context clients. Thus, a wearable computer,for example, may simultaneously process multiple themes to answernumerous questions regarding a user's context and provide a robustenvironment for the user, as described below. In general, themes andtheir thematic sets of attributes are created based on determining someor all of the following: what types of context information are usefulfor a given application, how context information accuracy ischaracterized by attributes, how to determine the validity or usefulnessof an attribute with a given associated time value or timestamp, how tochoose between multiple providers of the same attribute, and what namingconvention is to be applied to attributes.

[0035] The following discussion first introduces a suitable examplewearable computer environment in which aspects of the invention canoperate. A detailed example of a cardiac condition theme and itspossible use is then provided. Thereafter, themes and their thematicattribute sets are discussed more generally, and then examples of usingthemes to present appropriate information to a user are illustrated.

[0036] Wearable Computer Example

[0037] Referring to FIG. 1, a context characterization system 100 isshown operating in a general-purpose body-mounted wearable computer 120worn by the user 110. FIG. 1 and the following discussion provide abrief, general description of a suitable computing environment in whichthe invention can be implemented. Although not required, embodiments ofthe invention will be described in the general context ofcomputer-executable instructions, such as routines executed by a generalpurpose computer. Those skilled in the relevant art will appreciate thataspects of the invention can be practiced with other computer systemconfigurations, including Internet appliances, hand-held devices,cellular or mobile phones, multi-processor systems, microprocessor-basedor programmable consumer electronics, network PCs, client-serverenvironments including thin clients, mini-computers, mainframe computersand the like. Aspects of the invention can be embodied in a specialpurpose computer or data processor that is specifically programmed,configured or constructed to perform one or more of thecomputer-executable instructions or modules explained in detail below.Indeed, the term “computer” as used herein refers to any data processingplatform or device.

[0038] Aspects of the invention can also be practiced in distributedcomputing environments, where tasks or modules are performed by remoteprocessing devices, which are linked through a communications network.In a distributed computing environment, program modules or sub-routinesmay be located in both local and remote memory storage devices, such aswith respect to a wearable computer and a fixed-location computer.Aspects of the invention described below may be stored and distributedon computer-readable media, including magnetic and optically readableand removable computer disks, as well as distributed electronically overthe Internet or over other networks (including wireless networks). Thoseskilled in the relevant art will recognize that portions of theinvention may reside on a server computer or server platform, whilecorresponding portions reside on a client computer. For example, such aclient server architecture may be employed within a single wearablecomputer, among several wearable computers of several users, and betweena wearable computer and a fixed-location computer. Data structures andtransmission of data particular to aspects of the invention are alsoencompassed within the scope of the invention.

[0039] Many wearable computers (including the computer 120) travel withthe user, such as by being strapped or attached to a user's body orclothing or by being mounted in a holster. The wearable computer 120 hasa variety of user-worn user input devices including a microphone 124, ahand-held flat panel display 130 (e.g., with a touch sensitive portionand character recognition capabilities), and various other user inputdevices 122. Similarly, the computer has a variety of user-worn outputdevices that include the hand-held flat panel display 130, an earpiecespeaker 132, an eyeglass-mounted display 134, a tactile output device136, and various other user output devices 138. In addition to thevarious user-worn user input devices, the computer can also receiveinformation from various user sensor input devices 126 and fromenvironment sensor input devices 128, including a video camera 121. Thecharacterization system 100, as well as various CCs and/or CSes (notshown), can receive and process the various input information receivedby the computer and can present information to the user on the variousaccessible output devices.

[0040] As shown in FIG. 1, the computer 120 is accessible to orcommunicates with a computer 150 (e.g., by being in line-of-sightwireless proximity or by being reachable via a long-distancecommunication device such as a cellular phone/modem) which also has avariety of input and output devices. In the illustrated embodiment, thecomputer 150 is non-portable, although the body-mounted computer of theuser can similarly communicate with a variety of other types ofcomputers, including portable computers and body-mounted computers ofother users. The devices from which the non-portable computer candirectly receive information include various user input devices 152 andvarious user sensor input devices 156. The non-portable computer canoutput information directly to a display 160, a speaker 162, anolfactory device 164, and a printer 166. In the illustrated embodiment,the body-mounted computer can communicate with the non-portable computervia a wireless transmission medium. In this manner, the characterizationsystem 100 can receive information from the user input devices 152 andthe user sensor devices 156 after the information has been transmittedto the non-portable computer and then to the body-mounted computer.

[0041] Alternately, the body-mounted computer may be able to directlycommunicate with the user input devices 152 and the user sensor devices156, as well as with other various remote environment sensor inputdevices 158, without the intervention of the non-portable computer 150.Similarly, the body-mounted computer may be able to supply outputinformation to the display 160, the speaker 162, the olfactory device164, and the printer 166, either directly or via the non-portablecomputer, and directly to the telephone 168. As the user moves out ofrange of the remote input and output devices, the characterizationsystem 100 will be updated to reflect that the remote devices are notcurrently available.

[0042] The computers 120 and 150 can employ any known bus structures orarchitectures for coupling the various blocks of such systems, includingemploying a memory bus with memory controller, a peripheral bus, and alocal bus. Data storage devices (not shown) coupled to the computers 120and 150 may include any type of computer-readable media that can storedata accessible by a computer, such as magnetic hard and floppy diskdrives, optical disk drives, magnetic cassettes, flash memory cards,digital video disks (DVDs), Bernoulli cartridges, RAMs, ROMs, smartcards, etc. Indeed, any medium for storing or transmittingcomputer-readable instructions and data may be employed, including aconnection port to a network such as a local area network (LAN), widearea network (WAN) or the Internet.

[0043] The various input devices allow the characterization system 100or another system (not shown) executing on the computer 120 to monitorthe user and the environment and to maintain a model (not shown) of thecurrent conditions or context.

[0044] Such a context model can include a variety of attributes thatrepresent information about the user and the user's environment atvarying levels of abstraction. For example, information about the userat a low level of abstraction can include raw physiological data (e.g.,heart rate and EKG) and geographic information (e.g., location andspeed), while higher levels of abstraction may attempt to characterizeor predict the user's physical activity (e.g., jogging or talking on aphone), emotional state (e.g., angry or puzzled), desired outputbehavior for different types of information (e.g., to present privatefamily information so that it is perceivable only to the user and theuser's family members), and cognitive load (i.e., the amount ofattention required for the user's current activities). Backgroundinformation which changes rarely or not at all can also be included,such as the user's age, gender and visual acuity. The model cansimilarly hold environment information at a low level of abstraction,such as air temperature or raw data from a motion sensor, or at higherlevels of abstraction, such as the number and identities of nearbypeople, objects, and locations. The model of the current context canadditionally include information added explicitly from other sources(e.g., application programs), as well as user-specified orsystem-learned defaults and preference information. An illustrativeexample of a context model containing user and environment informationis described in greater detail in U.S. patent application Ser. No.09/216,193 (Attorney Docket No. 29443-8001), filed Dec. 18, 1998 andentitled “Method and System for Controlling Presentation of Informationto a User Based on the User's Condition.”

[0045] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that computer systems120 and 150, as well as their various input and output devices, aremerely illustrative and are not intended to limit the scope of theinvention. The computer systems may contain additional components or maylack some of the illustrated components. For example, it is possiblethat the characterization system 100 can be implemented on thenon-portable computer 150, with the body-mounted computer 120 replacedby a thin client such as a transmitter/receiver for relaying informationbetween the body-mounted input and output devices and the non-portablecomputer. Alternately, the user may not wear any devices or computers.

[0046] In addition, the body-mounted computer 120 may be connected toone or more networks of other devices through wired or wirelesscommunication means. In general, as used herein, communications or dataexchange between the devices or components described herein may beperformed using any wired or wireless methods, (e.g., wireless RF,wireless satellite connections, a cellular phone or modem, infrared,physical cable or wiring of any variety, a docking station, physicalcontext between two WPC users, etc.), either with or without supportfrom other computers such as the computer 150. For example, when loadedwith a “home” attribute set and corresponding CSes and CCs, thebody-mounted computer of a user can make use of output devices in asmart room (e.g., a television and stereo when the user is at home),with the body-mounted computer transmitting information to those devicesvia a wireless medium or by way of a cabled or docking mechanism ifavailable. Alternately, kiosks or other information devices can beinstalled at various locations (e.g., in airports, stores, a work place,or at tourist spots) to transmit relevant information to body-mountedcomputers within the range of the information device.

[0047] In general, as the body-mounted computer receives various inputinformation, the information is forwarded to the characterization system100. The characterization system 100 monitors the user and the user'senvironment in order to create a current user context model. Inparticular, the characterization system 100 receives a variety of typesof information, and can use this information to determine the user'scurrent context in a variety of ways. These types of information includeexplicit user input to the computer (via input devices 122, etc.),sensed user information (via user sensors 126, etc.), and sensedenvironment information (via environment sensors 128, etc.). Thecharacterization system 100 can also receive date and time informationfrom a CPU or from some other source, and can retrieve storedinformation (e.g., user preferences, definitions of various user-definedgroups, or a default model of the user context) from a storage device(not shown in FIG. 1). It is also possible for one or more applicationprograms to optionally supply application-specific information to thecharacterization system 100. This information can include any type ofuser context information to which the application program has access,such as user location or physiological state. In addition, theapplication programs can create new user context attributes, includingthose to be used only by that application program. All of the aboveitems of information may be used to generate attribute values by contextservers.

[0048] The various input information can provide context information ina variety of ways. For example, user input information alone can providesignificant information about the user's context. If the user iscurrently supplying input to the computer via a full-sized keyboard, forinstance, it is likely that the user is engaged in little other physicalactivity (e.g., walking), that the user is devoting a significant amountof attention to the computer system, and that the user would seeinformation flashed on the display. If the user is instead generatinguser input audibly (e.g., through the head-mounted microphone 124), thatfact may provide less user context information since the user can supplysuch audio information while engaged in a variety of types of physicalactivity. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that there are a widevariety of input devices with which a user can supply information to thecomputer system, including voice recognition devices, traditional qwertykeyboards, chording keyboards, half qwerty keyboards, dual forearmkeyboards, chest mounted keyboards, handwriting recognition and digitalink devices, mice, track pad, digital stylus, finger or glove devices tocapture user movement, pupil tracking devices, gyropoints, trackballs,joysticks, game pads, scanners (including optical character recognition(OCR) scanners and barcode scanners and other automated data collectionreaders), radio-frequency identification (RFID) readers, voice griddevices, video cameras (still and motion), etc.

[0049] In addition to the information received via user input, thecharacterization system 100 also uses sensed information about the user(from, e.g., the user sensors 126). For example, a variety of sensorscan provide information about the current physiological state of theuser, geographical and spatial information (e.g., location andaltitude), and current user activities. Some devices, such as themicrophone 124, can provide multiple types of information. For example,if the microphone 124 is available, the microphone can provide sensedinformation related to the user (e.g., detecting that the user istalking, snoring, or typing) when not actively being used for userinput. Other user-worn body sensors can provide a variety of types ofinformation, including that from thermometers, sphygmometers, heart ratesensors, shiver response sensors, skin galvanometry sensors, eyelidblink sensors, pupil dilation detection sensors, EEG and EKG sensors,sensors to detect brow furrowing, blood sugar monitors, etc. Inaddition, sensors elsewhere in the near environment can provideinformation about the user, such as motion detector sensors (e.g.,whether the user is present and is moving), badge readers, video cameras(including low light, infra-red, and x-ray), remote microphones, etc.These sensors can be both passive (i.e., detecting information generatedexternal to the sensor, such as a heart beat) or active (i.e.,generating a signal to obtain information, such as sonar or x-rays). Allof the above items of information may be used to generate attributevalues by context servers.

[0050] Stored background information about the user can also be suppliedto the characterization system 100. Such information typically includesinformation about the user that changes at most infrequently, althoughit is possible to frequently update the stored background information toreflect changing conditions. For example, background information aboutthe user can include demographic information (e.g., race, gender, age,religion, birthday, etc.) if it can affect when and how contextinformation is created and used. User preferences, either explicitlysupplied or learned by the system, can also be stored as backgroundinformation. Information about the user's physical or mental conditionwhich affects the type of information which the user can perceive andremember, such as blindness, deafness, paralysis, or mentalincapacitation, is also important background information that allowssystems with access to this information to adapt to the user'scapabilities and to create and use appropriate context information.

[0051] In addition to information related directly to the user, thecharacterization system 100 also receives and uses information relatedto the environment surrounding the user. For example, devices such asmicrophones or motion sensors may be able to detect whether there areother people near the user and whether the user is interacting withthose people. Sensors can also detect environmental conditions which mayaffect the user, such as air thermometers, Geiger counters, chemicalsensors (e.g., carbon monoxide sensors), etc. Sensors, eitherbody-mounted or remote, can also provide information related to a widevariety of user and environment factors including location, orientation,speed, direction, distance, and proximity to other locations (e.g., GPSand differential GPS devices, orientation tracking devices, gyroscopes,altimeters, accelerometers, anemometers, pedometers, compasses, laser oroptical range finders, depth gauges, sonar, etc.). Identity andinformational sensors (e.g., bar code readers, biometric scanners, laserscanners, OCR, badge readers, etc.) and remote sensors (e.g., home orcar alarm systems, remote camera, national weather service web page, ababy monitor, traffic sensors, etc.) can also provide relevantenvironment information. All of the above items of information may beused to generate attribute values by context servers. Informationregarding storing and retrieving environmental information may be foundin U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/464,659 (Attorney Docket No.29443-8003), filed Dec. 15, 1999 and entitled “Storing and RecallingInformation to Augment Human Memories.”

[0052] In addition to receiving information directly from low-levelsensors, the characterization system 100 can also receive informationfrom modules which aggregate low-level information or attributes intohigher-level attributes (e.g., face recognizer modules, gesturerecognition modules, affective/emotion recognizer modules, etc.). Asexplained below, a combined context server and context client module mayreceive attribute values from low-level sensors and produce higher-levelattribute values which are then fed back into the characterizationmodule (CM) for use by other context clients.

[0053] A user can also explicitly supply information about their currentcontext (e.g., “I have a high cognitive load and do not want to bedisturbed” or “I am distracted and will need greater assistance thannormal in recalling current state information”). The characterizationsystem 100 can also receive current date and time information in orderto both track changes over time and to utilize information such as theuser's stored schedule. Previously-created models of the user's contextcan also be retrieved and used as a default or to detect changingconditions. Information from the computer indicating the types of outputcurrently being presented to the user can also provide information aboutthe user's current context, such as current activities and cognitiveload.

[0054] After the characterization system 100 receives one or more ofthese types of information, it processes the information and creates acurrent model of the user context based on multiple attributes (withcurrent values for some or all of the variables). Once the model of theuser context has been created and then later updated, older versions ofthe model will be made available to the characterization system 100 toassist in the characterization of the user, such as with changes overtime.

[0055] The model of the current user context can represent a variety oftypes of information. The characterization system 100 may merely storethe attribute values it receives (even when they are at a low-level ofabstraction) and then allow other modules to directly use the storedattributes when making decisions related to the current state. Thecharacterization system 100 may also use received low-level attributesto itself generate attributes for higher-level representations of theuser's observable activities (e.g., walking, watching a movie in a movietheater, talking to co-workers at the office, etc.).

[0056] In yet another embodiment, the characterization system 100further characterizes the user's context with respect to attributes thatare not directly observable. Such attributes include the currentcognitive load of the user (indicating amount of attention required forthe user's current activities and thus the ability of the user to devoteattention to the computer), the current degree of interruptibility forthe user (indicating ability to safely interrupt the user), the currentdegree of intrusiveness of output on the environment (indicating impactof output on the surrounding environment), the user's desired scope ofaudience for information being output (indicating how many people shouldbe able to perceive the information), the user's desired level ofprivacy for information being output (indicating the group of people whoare allowed to perceive the information), and the user's desired levelof solitude (indicating the user's current desire to avoid intrusions).

[0057] User attributes can also represent abstract principles about theuser and the surrounding environment, such as the user's relationship toother objects, people, or locations (e.g., being at their desk, being intheir office, being near a drug store, talking to a particular person,etc.). In some embodiments, modules in the characterization system 100can create and supply information about user context attributes to othermodules, and those other modules can add the information to their modelof their user context if appropriate (e.g., ambient air temperature, oran emotional state of a module's user that is sensed by another module),as noted below.

EXAMPLE Cardiac Condition Context Client and Associated Context Serversand Attributes

[0058] Referring to FIG. 2, a more detailed block diagram of anembodiment of the computer 120 and of the characterization system 100 isshown. In particular, FIG. 2 shows an example of a set of input devices,context servers, and associated attributes that employ a cardiaccondition thematic attribute set to characterize the user's cardiaccondition. The theme of the attribute set employed under the example ofFIG. 2 is thus the cardiac condition of the user. A cardiac conditionclient then employs the cardiac condition attribute set to model acurrent cardiac condition of the user, where such a condition could notbe directly measured from any of the attributes individually.

[0059] In the illustrated embodiment, the computer 120 receives inputfrom not only the microphone 124 and video camera 121, but also from abody temperature sensor 202, EKG/EEG sensor 204, heart rate monitor 206,blood pressure monitor 208, blood oxygen sensor 210, and ambienttemperature sensor 212. Of course, other input devices related todetermining a user's cardiac condition may also be used, such as a skingalvanometer. The input devices each provide one or more data signals tocorresponding context servers (CSes) 214-224, which receive such signalsand convert them into attributes for use by context consumers or clients(CCs). For example, an audio input CS 214 receives an audio data signalfrom the microphone 124, and then parses, amplifies/attenuates, filters,packages or otherwise processes such a signal to produce a soundattribute.

[0060] If the microphone 124 is for receiving speech commands, then theaudio input CS 214 can continually monitor audio data signals producedby the microphone 124 until a data signal is received that exceeds apredetermined threshold, which may indicate that the user is speaking.Such a signal is then parsed into appropriate packets such as phonemes,words or phrases to produce audio command attributes. Conversely, if themicrophone 124 is instead positioned for receiving ambient sounds, thenthe audio input CS 214 may be modeled to simply take samples at regularintervals of the ambient audio data and convert such signals into anaudio environment attribute. Of course, two or more microphones may beprovided for receiving both spoken commands and ambient sounds, or onemicrophone may pick up both types of audio data. As explained below,such an audio environment attribute may be used by a CC to determineinformation about the user's context, such as whether the user isexercising at a health club or sleeping.

[0061] Other CSes shown in FIG. 2 provide similar processing of datasignals provided by input devices. For example, a video input CS 216 mayperiodically sample and process frames of video data provided by thevideo camera 121. A body temperature CS 218 receives input signals fromboth the body temperature sensor 202 and the ambient temperature sensor212, and then compares the signals to provide a close estimate of auser's core body temperature and to produce a corresponding bodytemperature attribute value.

[0062] Two heart rate CSes 220 are shown in FIG. 2 such that one heartrate CS receives an input signal from the EKG sensor 204 while the otherreceives an input data signal from the heart rate monitor 206. The firstheart rate CS 220 may provide a more accurate heart rate attribute basedon the EKG input data signal, while the second heart rate CS may providean alternate heart rate attribute, with either or both of the heart rateattributes being used by a CC.

[0063] In a manner similar to that described above, a blood pressure CS222 receives an input data signal from the blood pressure monitor tocreate and provide a blood pressure attribute value, while a bloodoxygen CS 224 receives a blood oxygen input signal and provides a bloodoxygen attribute value in response. Other CSes 226 are also shown whichcan receive input data signals from the various user sensor devices 126,environmental sensor devices 128, and user input devices 122, and canprovide corresponding attribute values.

[0064] The various CSes 214 through 226 provide attribute values to acharacterization module (CM) 230 that acts as an exchange mechanism forattribute values from CSes to CCs. The CM 230, CSes 214 through 226, andCCs reside in a memory 232 that forms part of the computer 120. Alsorunning or resident in the memory 232 are one or more applicationprograms 236 (e.g., word processing and spreadsheet applications), and abrowser program 238 such as for accessing the World Wide Web portion ofthe Internet. The memory 232 may be random access memory (RAM),electronically erasable read only memory (EEPROM), data storage devicessuch as floppy and fixed magnetic disks, optical disks, or any otherdata storage devices, and any combination of such memory.

[0065] The computer 120 also includes one or more central processingunits (CPUs) 234. The term “CPU,” as generally used herein, refers toany logic processing unit, such as one or more microprocessors, digitalsignal processors (DSPs), application-specific integrated circuits(ASIC), programmed logic arrays and the like. While the CPU is shown asa block separate from other blocks, such as the memory, some or all ofthese blocks may be monolithically integrated onto a single chip.

[0066] A general discussion of the interrelationship between contextservers, context clients and the characterization module 230 will now bedescribed. The CM 230 provides a mechanism for attribute exchangebetween code modules such as applications, dynamic link libraries(DLL's) and drivers. As shown in FIG. 3, a basic architecture 300includes the CM 232 and code modules A through D. As noted above, amodule that provides attributes to the CM is referred to as a server ofattributes, while a consumer of attributes is referred to as a client.In FIG. 3, code module A is a server (CS) while code module B is aclient (CC). Clients and servers differ only in the direction in whichattributes flow. Modules may act as both clients and servers if theyboth provide and consume attributes (e.g., code modules C and D).

[0067] Context clients may look at or employ as many attribute values asthey wish, regardless of the source or server of such attributes. Underan alternative embodiment, the CM may include mechanisms that restrictaccess to certain attributes, both for clients and servers, such as forsecurity reasons or to prevent circular references.

[0068] Context clients and servers inform the CM of their intent tocommunicate attributes through a registration process. This registrationprocess provides the CM with a way to monitor attribute dependencies, tonotify participating modules of specific events, and to establishprecedents. Further details on interaction between context clients,servers and the CM may be found in U.S. patent application Ser. No.09/541,328 (Attorney Docket No. 29443-8005), entitled “Interface forExchanging Context Data” and filed Apr. 2, 2000. Once context clientshave registered their intent to examine or receive attributes, suchclients may create event handlers so that they receive notification fromthe CM when attributes change in specific ways, such as exceeding apredetermined threshold. Further details on event and condition-drivenattribute creation/supply may be found in U.S. patent application Ser.No. 09/724,892 (Attorney Docket No. 29443-8004), filed Nov. 28, 2000 andentitled “Automated Response To Computer User's Context.” Furtherdetails on the CM supplying attributes for user context data, andemploying such data may be found in U.S. patent application Ser. Nos.09/724,902, 09/724,893, 09/724,777, 09/724,894, 09/724,949, and09/724,799, (attorney docket nos. 29443-8002, 29443-8018, 29443-8019,29443-8020, 29443-8022, and 29443-8023) and entitled “DynamicallyExchanging Computer User's Context,” “Supplying Enhanced Computer User'sContext Data,” “Requesting Computer User's Context Data,” “ManagingInteractions Between Computer Users' Context Models,” “SupplyingNotifications Related To Supply And Consumption Of User Context Data,”and “Generating And Supplying User Context Data” respectively, and allfiled Nov. 28, 2000.

[0069] A context client may request an attribute that more than onecontext server provides. Each contributing context server is said toprovide an instance of an attribute. The context client may eitherspecify the preferred server/instance, or it may ask the CM to mediatethe multiple attribute instances. The mediation process involvesimplementing one of several defined strategies for evaluating theinstances and sending a resulting aggregate or representative instanceof an attribute to the requesting client. These strategies are referredto as attribute mediators. As shown in FIG. 2, the CM 230 includes amediate process 240 which receives heart rate attributes from the twoheart rate CSes 220. The mediate process 240 may select between such twoheart rate attributes, such as to select the most accurate (e.g., theone produced from the EKG sensor 204) or the newest, or may averagebetween such attributes. Further details on such a mediation process maybe found in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/724,932 (Attorney DocketNo. 29443-8017), entitled “Mediating Conflicts In Computer User'sContext Data” and filed Nov. 28, 2000.

[0070] The CM makes no distinction between directly measured attributesand derived attributes. For instance, while it is simple to bothquantify and measure a user's pulse or heart rate, the user's level ofphysical activity and cardiac condition may require inference frommultiple measurable quantities such as pulse, velocity (as measured fromGPS data), skin galvanometry (as measured from a skin galvanometer) andthe like, as explained in greater detail below. The context clientsreceive such attributes from the CM to characterize a current state ofthe user, and in some cases, to provide output (e.g., by displayinginformation) to the user.

[0071] Referring to FIG. 4, a simple linear routine 400 summarizes howone or more context servers obtain input signals and provide suchsignals to context clients via the CM in order to provide an output tothe user, particularly with respect to a thematic data set to representor characterize the user's context (e.g., cardiac condition). Under step402, one or more context servers and context clients are initialized fora thematic data set for the user. Such initialization may includeregistration of the CS and CC modules with the CM.

[0072] In step 404, the CS obtains data signals from input devices. Instep 406, the CS processes the input data signals to produce attributesrepresenting the user's context, including adding required data fieldssuch as attribute name, timestamp, units, uncertainty and the like.

[0073] In step 408, the CS provides such processed attributes to the CMfor storage. Under step 410, the CC requests from the CM to receive thestored attributes. Under step 412, the CC processes the receivedattributes to determine and model the user context and to determine anyappropriate output. Under step 414, the CC, in conjunction with anyappropriate drivers, formatting modules and output devices, provides anoutput signal to the user or other entity. Alternatively, the CC mayprovide such context information or processed attributes to anothermodule or process.

[0074] Applying the routine 400 of FIG. 4 to the illustrated embodimentof FIG. 2, the input devices provide data signals to the CSes 214through 226, which in turn produce attributes for storage by the CM 230(under steps 402 through 408). A cardiac condition CC 242 requests andreceives from the CM the set of various cardiac condition attributes,including an ambient audio attribute, current video attribute, bodytemperature attribute, mediated heart rate attribute, blood pressureattribute, and blood oxygen level attribute, as well as other attributesnot shown under step 410. Other relevant attributes may include theuser's mood and the user's speech patterns to determine whether anurgent cardiac condition exists or not. (Of course, other CCs 244 mayalso request and receive these and other attributes.) Indeed, the heartrate, blood pressure, blood oxygen level and body temperatureattributes, as well as other attributes, represent a cardiac conditiondata set or “thematic attribute set”. The cardiac condition CC 242processes the cardiac condition attribute set to model a characteristicof the current state of the user's cardiac condition. For reasons ofeconomy and clarity, the cardiac condition CC 242 is described below asa single context client providing numerous functions; those skilled inthe relevant art will recognize that the cardiac condition CC may wellemploy numerous modules or subroutines, or other CCs, to provide thefunctionality described below.

[0075] The cardiac condition CC analyzes all received attributes in thecardiac condition attribute set to determine a best estimate of theuser's current cardiac condition or state, and to determine a bestoutput or response to that state. For example, the heart rate, bloodpressure, and blood oxygen level attributes may show elevated heartlevels, high blood pressure and low oxygen levels respectively, whichmay indicate that the user is undergoing cardiac stress. However, thecardiac condition CC may also analyze the ambient audio attribute,visual elements within a frame of video data or other video inputattributes, and the body temperature attribute. The ambient audioattribute may reflect heavy breathing of the user, the body temperatureattribute may reflect an elevated surface body temperature, and thevideo data may include visual clues reflecting athletic equipment. Thus,the cardiac condition CC can determine that the user is exercising atthe health club. Further, the cardiac condition CC may retrieve theuser's electronic calendar or schedule (not shown) stored in the memory232, which may indicate that, based upon the current time, the user isscheduled to be exercising. Thus, the cardiac condition CC decides toprovide an output to the user indicating the user's current level ofphysical activity. The cardiac condition CC outputs a signal to aformatter and visual display selector 248 that provides an appropriatesignal to the head-mounted display 134 to visually indicate the user'sactivity level (e.g., a “tachometer”-type display having a needlerepresenting a numerical value on the tachometer corresponding to theuser's activity level).

[0076] If, however, the heart rate, blood pressure and blood oxygenlevel attributes indicate a possibly dangerous cardiac condition, andother attributes in the cardiac condition attribute set don't attenuatethis indication but instead further support a possible seriouscondition, then the cardiac CC provides warnings or possible emergencyoutput to the user. For example, if the cardiac condition CC 242determines that the user is about to have a heart attack, the CCprovides both a visual output signal to the head-mounted display 134 toprovide a warning to the user and an audible warning signal to theearpiece speaker 132. If in fact the user is having a heart attack, thenthe cardiac condition CC 242 may provide an output signal to adefibrillator 250. The measured attributes or cardiac condition data setallow the cardiac condition CC to determine an appropriate charge forthe defibrillator 250 to apply to the user. Indeed, the cardiaccondition data set is generally more robust than individual attributes,and thus the cardiac condition CC can provide a much more accuratecharge determination for the defibrillator 250 than prior artdefibrillators.

[0077] The cardiac condition CC 242 may also call for help if the useris suffering from a serious cardiac condition. Under this example, thecardiac condition CC 242 must first determine a current state of theuser's logical data and telecommunications environment. For example, oneof the various sensor devices 128 may include a cell phone signaltransceiver to determine whether a cell phone site is within range ofthe user, and possibly to register the user with the cell site. One ofthe other CSes 226 then creates a proximate telecommunications accessattribute. The cardiac condition CC 242 receives such an attribute todetermine if the cardiac condition CC may provide an output signal to atelecommunications transceiver 252, and if so dials an emergency numberor 911 and automatically provides audio notification with a currentlocation of the user (e.g., using GPS location). If the user is notwithin a cell site (as determined by the proximate telecommunicationsattribute), the cardiac condition CC may then cause thetelecommunications transceiver 252 to employ alternativetelecommunications devices, such as paging a doctor or a hospital via apaging network. Other attributes reflecting a state of the user'slogical data and telecommunications environment include the above-notedelectronic calendar for the user. The cardiac condition CC 242 may alsoretrieve important phone numbers stored in a contacts database for theuser so that the cardiac condition CC may place a call or page to aparticular doctor or other health care provider.

[0078] Based on attributes reflecting a state of the user's physicalsurroundings, the cardiac condition CC may provide additional output.For example, the cardiac condition CC 242 may analyze the ambient audioinput attribute to determine whether voices or sounds of nearby peopleare present. If so, the cardiac condition CC may provide an outputsignal to a speaker 254 that will broadcast prerecorded messages such as“I'm having a heart attack! Please call for help!” to thereby allow thewearable computer to call for help from nearby people when the user maybe incapacitated.

[0079] To summarize, the cardiac condition CC 242 employs and analyzes athematic set of attributes reflecting three distinct states of the user:(1) the state of the user (biometric, mood, etc.), (2) the state of theuser's physical surroundings, and (3) the state of the user's logical ortelecommunications environment, to thereby produce an appropriateresponse. In other words, the cardiac condition thematic attribute setincludes not only attributes reflecting the state of the user (e.g.,heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature and blood oxygen levelattributes), but also attributes regarding the state of the user'sphysical surroundings (e.g., the ambient audio input attribute) and theuser's logical or telecommunications environment (e.g., whether thecomputer 120 may initiate a cellular telephone call using a proximatetelecommunications access attribute). Of course, the cardiac conditionthematic set for use with the cardiac condition CC may include otherattributes not discussed.

[0080] More generally, a user's logical or telecommunicationsenvironment represents data connectivity or a data environmentindicating how the user's computer may have access to or connect withother computers or data sources. The user's logical environment alsoprovides information regarding existing data stored elsewhere, such asemails, voice mails, phone calls, facsimiles, commonly used databases,and the like. For example, as noted above, attributes reflecting a stateof the user's logical and telecommunications environment include anelectronic calendar and contacts database, such as that provided byMicrosoft Corporation under the trademark Outlook. Other attributesreflecting a state of the user's logical or telecommunicationsenvironment include favorite Internet links or web pages, phone numbersor other telecommunications access addresses (“resource locators”)identifying a telecommunications node, including web pages, databases,documents, facilities, resources, and other data and processesaccessible to the user via the user's computer 120.

[0081] As explained below, numerous thematic data or attribute setscharacterizing the user's context are possible, all of which aregenerally based on these three classes of user context (i.e., the user'sstate, physical surroundings, and logical data and telecommunicationsenvironment). Attributes based on these three context classes providerich context information for context clients to model characteristics ofthe current state of the user and to produce a response that accuratelyreflects the user's context in specialized scenarios or for specializedtasks. Prior art devices and processes that receive only a single signalor a small set of input data signals can produce only limited responses,and thus fail to fully characterize the user's context.

[0082] Thematic Attribute Sets, and Generation and Use of Such Sets

[0083] Initially presented below is a discussion of how attribute valuesare requested by the CM, created by context servers and provided to thecontext clients, as well as an overview of a structure for attributes.Two examples are then provided. Thereafter, properties of attributes,their uses and thematic sets of such attributes are discussed.

[0084] Under one embodiment, the characterization module requestsattributes from each context server by sending a message to anappropriate request handler running within each context server. Therequest includes the name of the attribute being requested and a timeoutperiod. The context server is expected to provide an attribute withinthe timeout period, where such attribute includes the following: valueor quantity of the attribute; an uncertainty value that represents arange of values around the attribute value that the attribute is likelyto have, with the type of the uncertainty value depending upon the typeof information embodied in the attribute value; a timestamp thatrepresents the effective age of the attribute value; and an indicationof the measurement units in which the value and uncertainty areexpressed. The timestamp reflects a point in time when the attributevalue is most accurate, and it is the responsibility of the contextserver to determine how to timestamp its attributes most effectively.Attributes may also include a format version, as well as various flags.The timestamp may be determined from the clock residing on the computer120 to facilitate consistency and easy comparison between contextclients.

[0085] CSes may create attribute values at any time. An attribute valuecreation request from the CM includes the following: a CS name,attribute name, data type, format version, request handler and startupbehavior. The CS name is a name for the requesting CS that is uniqueamong other CSes. The name should be the same for all attributes thatthe CS creates. The attribute name corresponds to a predetermined namefor the attribute. The data type represents the manner in which theattribute's value and uncertainty are expressed, such as floating pointor text string data types. The format version represents the number ofthe format version in which the value is expressed. The request handleris a reference to a CS function that processes attribute requests andother messages from the CM. A single request handler may also be usedfor multiple attributes. The startup behavior specifies whether or notthe CS should be loaded automatically at startup. This parameter isoptional, and if included it supersedes any previous setting for therequesting CS. Overall, sets or groups of attributes generated by one ormore CSes related to a common theme are provided and stored in the CMfor use by one or more CCs.

[0086] A CC may request from the CM a value of an attribute within athematic set. Such a request includes the following: a name, source,attribute mediator, age and timeout. The name represents a string thatidentifies the attribute. The source is the name of the CS that is toprovide the attribute value. If no source is specified, then the CMassumes the attribute value may come from any source, and if necessaryit uses an attribute mediator in the CM to select one. As noted above,the attribute mediator is the name of the selection method that the CCwould like the CM to use when selecting one of multiple attributeinstances. If no attribute mediator is provided, a default method isused. The age is an expression of the maximum age of the attributevalue. If the request is made for a specific attribute instance throughspecification of a source, then only that instance is checked, and ifthat attribute value is too old it is freshened by a request from the CMto the CS for a new attribute instance value. If multiple instances arepresent and a source is not specified, the CM applies an attributemediator to those attributes whose values satisfy the age requirement.If no values satisfy the age requirement, all instances of the attributeare freshened prior to the application of the attribute mediator. Thetimeout is a period within which the CM shall return the attribute.Attributes may also be requested periodically; further details may befound in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/541,326 (Attorney DocketNo. 29443-8007), entitled “Logging and Analyzing Computer User's ContextData” and filed Apr. 2, 2000.

[0087] In response to the above attribute requests, the CM provides theCC with the following for each attribute: the attribute's name, value,uncertainty, timestamp, units, source, and attribute mediator. It mayalso include format version and flags. The name, value, uncertainty,timestamp, units and attribute mediator are described above. The sourceinformation refers to the object that created and owns the instance ofthe attribute, typically a CS. If the attribute is derived from anevent, the source is the name of that event. Other attributes have theCM as their source. Further details on functionality for CSes, CCs andthe CM, including attribute creation and use, are discussed in theabove-referenced U.S. patent applications.

[0088] Additional functionality for CCs and CSes is also possible. Forexample, CCs may obtain listings of attributes, and register with the CMto receive notification when attributes that they request becomeavailable. CSes may also be provided with notification when clientsregister for attributes whose values they provide, thereby allowing suchCSes to load into memory and execute only when necessary. The CM mayalso in some situations convert attribute values from one measurementunit to another. CCs may also be notified that data cannot be newer thana certain preset period of time (attribute instance minimum delaycommunication). In addition, certain CSes may have exclusivity inproviding values for certain attributes, or may push attribute values tothe CM (e.g., for frequently updated attributes). CSes may also have theability to provide constant attributes whose values do not change, andthus that do not require repeated requests from the CM for the currentattribute value. Further, CSes may in some situations be required as asecurity precaution to be certified, and in other situations attributenames may be reserved so that CSes cannot use those names.

[0089] In general, CSes may create low-level, intermediate-level andhigher-level attributes within the framework noted above. For example,referring to FIG. 5A, a latitude, longitude and altitude context servermodule or routine 500 is shown. The CS module 500 provides a thematicset of three attributes related to location, those being latitude,longitude and altitude. Beginning in step 502, the module launches.Because the CS module functions independently of any particular contextclient, this context server module launches at system startup.Additionally, under step 502, the module 500 initiates alatitude/longitude/altitude attribute request handler and registers themodule and the attributes with the CM. In step 504, the CS module 500periodically receives a GPS data stream from a GPS receiver thatrepresents a most recent location of the user (assuming that the GPSreceiver forms part of the wearable computer). In step 506, the moduleparses and stores the received GPS data.

[0090] In step 508, the CS module 500 determines whether it has receiveda request from the CM for a latitude, longitude or altitude attribute,or any combination of these attributes. If not, then the module loopsback to step 504. If yes, then the module provides the requestedattribute values to the CM together with timestamp, uncertainty, unitsand other fields or portions of the attribute. Referring to FIG. 5B, anexample of the latitude attribute is shown as a data structure 520. Thelatitude attribute includes a latitude name 521 (e.g., “Latitude”), alatitude value 522, an uncertainty value 524, a timestamp 526, units 528and a format version, flags or other data 530, all of which arediscussed above. Data structures for the longitude and altitudeattributes in this location attribute set are substantially similar.

[0091] Context servers may also produce intermediate-level attributeswhich are calculated from lower-level attributes for a thematicattribute set. For example, a speed attribute, representing the speed ofthe user, can be calculated directly by a sensor such as a pedometer(thus being a lower-level attribute), or can be calculated indirectlyvia information over time from the latitude, longitude and altitudeattributes (via the GPS sensor). Other calculated attributes include anindication that the user is located in his or her office, is near his orher desk, and that there are no other people physically nearby. Thus, athematic attribute set reflecting whether other people are present mayinclude a motion detection attribute based on a signal provided by amotion sensor device located on the desk of the user that determineswhether other individuals are in the user's office, and an ambient soundattribute to determine whether other voices may be heard within theuser's office.

[0092] Higher-level condition variables or attributes can also becalculated and be included within thematic attribute sets, such as theuser's current physical activities, the current user cognitive load, thedesired level of privacy, and the desired scope of audience. Informationfrom a microphone or directly from a cellular phone can indicate thatthe user is currently talking on their cellular phone, and the speed andmotion sensor data can indicate that the user is walking. Since the userremains near his desk even though he is walking, the system can deducethat the user is pacing about his office or is walking on a treadmill.Such a user activity attribute demonstrates that variables can havemultiple values, and that information such as a degree of belief orcertainty in the value for a variable can be added and used by thesystem.

[0093] Referring to FIG. 6, an example of a context client (CC) is shownfor using the low-level location attribute set provided by the module500 of FIG. 5A. Beginning in step 602, a message handler in a locationmodule 600 registers with the CM as having an interest in values of thelatitude, longitude and altitude attributes. In step 604, the CC module600 determines whether to operate under normal operation. If so, thenthe module accepts the default attribute mediator in the CM forproviding the latitude, longitude and altitude attributes. If not, suchas when the user desires a more accurate latitude attribute value, themodule 600 in step 608 requests the CM to reevaluate all latitudeattribute values from all CSes providing such data. Other types of CSmodules able to produce latitude, longitude and altitude coordinatesinclude location finding methods using cell sites, card readers oraccess entry points (particularly within a building or buildingcomplex), LORAN devices and the like. In step 610, the module 600requests that the CM provide the latitude attribute whose value has thelowest uncertainty by specifying an attribute mediator that selects theattribute having the lowest uncertainty value. In step 612, the module600 receives the lowest uncertainty latitude values and determines whichCS provided the value.

[0094] In step 614, the module 600 requests values for the latitude,longitude and altitude attributes from the CM under default mode anddetermines whether it has received such attribute values. Alternatively,under a high accuracy mode, the module could request latitude, longitudeand altitude attributes from the specific CS that provided the highestaccuracy latitude attribute above (assuming that the specific CSprovides values for all three of the attributes), and receive suchattribute values in this step. The module 600 may also provide the setof location attributes it receives under step 614 to another module orprocess if appropriate, such as for indicating a current position of theuser on a map image displayed on the head-mounted display 134 or flatpanel display 130.

[0095] In step 616, the module 600 determines whether a notificationfeature of the module is active. Such a feature could be used toindicate whether the user has entered or exited a predefined area orboundary line. If such a feature is active, then in step 618 the module600 receives user input defining boundary conditions, such as latitudeand longitude coordinates defining a rectilinear area or simplycoordinates identifying a single street or boundary line. For each suchboundary, the module 600 creates corresponding conditions in the CM onthe latitude and longitude attributes. While the module could insteadperiodically request and compare received attribute values to theboundaries defined under step 618, the use of CM conditions allows themodule to offload this processing to the CM who can periodically check(e.g., every two seconds) to see if conditions have changed and theboundary has been crossed. Therefore, the module 600 in step 622 employsa message handler that simply determines whether a response is receivedfrom the CM based on the previously established condition. If so, thenin step 624 the module notifies the user that the boundary was crossed,such as by providing an audio output to the earpiece speaker 132 or anunobtrusive visual display on the headmounted displayed 134. If themodule 600 employed a map attribute, then the location thematicattribute set could be expanded beyond, latitude, longitude and altitudeattributes, to include map attributes (as well as other attributes thatthe module may employ).

[0096] The CS module 500 and CC module 600 are examples of simplecontext sources and clients; those skilled in the relevant art willreadily recognize that more detailed modules with enhanced functionalitycan be created based on the teachings provided by such examples. Forexample, the CC module 600 could further include route-findingcapabilities based on a specified destination. In particular, the CC 600could present a list of predefined named places to the user via thehead-mounted display 134, and allow the user to select a desireddestination. The CC 600 could then identify the user's current locationvia attributes provided by the CS 500. The current location anddestination point could then be sent via wireless Internet connectivityto a website that provides route-finding services. A map display CScould use the generated route to provide a map attribute havingappropriate map image value to the CC, which could then display the mapvia the head-mounted display 134. Alternatively, the route-findingservice may provide step-by-step text data listing directions to thedestination, which when received by the CC could similarly be displayedto the user. The CS and CC could also be configured to update directionsas the user moves from the current location to the destination, or toprovide a new set of directions if the user desires a new course (e.g.,such as due to traffic, time constraints to reach an intermediatedestination and the like). Under this example, the CC module 600 employsnot only the location attribute set (including latitude, longitude andaltitude attributes), but also a set of place name attributes, mapdisplay or route-finding service attributes (e.g., Internet links orresource locators), and the like—all of which form a thematic attributeset where the theme represents “route finding.”

[0097] The CC module could also continually monitor the user's locationand determine what named places are near. If the user has tasksassociated with locations, the CC can notify the user when the user isapproaching a place with an associated task, such as via thehead-mounted display 134 or earpiece speaker 132. Tasks can also hasassociated priorities, and the notification could be conditional basedon the task's priority level. In this manner, lower-priority tasks couldbe ignored or provide only minimal output on the head-mounted display134, whereas higher priority tasks could provide greater visual displayon the head-mounted display and/or an audible notification on theearpiece speaker 132. As an example, the user creates a new taskentitled “Grocery List,” together with information about the task suchas all grocery items needed. The user than specifies that the taskbelongs to a given category, such as “Groceries.” The category“Groceries” then has a place predefined, such as a favorite grocerystore or a grocery store identified along a regular route (e.g., theroute traveled from work to home). The CC then monitors the user'scurrent location via latitude and longitude coordinates provided by theCM, and calculates corresponding distance to the grocery story. When thedistance falls below a threshold value, the CC identifies tasks for thegiven category, such as the grocery list, and provides a notification tothe user. Thus, under this example, the CC module employs a thematicdata set including not only the location attribute set noted above, butalso task attributes (representing links or resource locators for theuser's stored list of tasks, including the grocery list)—which togetherrepresent a thematic data set where the theme is “tasks.”

[0098] The CC module 600 or other context client/server modules may alsobe distributed to users on computer-readable media, such as optically ormagnetically readable disks. The context client modules may be providedtogether with one or more context server modules, such as the CS module500, or each module may be supplied separately. CC and CS modules couldalso be provided electronically (e.g., downloaded via a wired orwireless connection from the Internet) to users when they desire addedfunctionality for their computers. Furthermore, the context servermodules may not only be supplied separately, but also together withappropriate input devices, such as the CS module 500 being distributedtogether with a GPS receiver that a user may connect to his or herwearable computer 120. Thus, a CS module may be provided to a user toprovide appropriate sets of attributes to the user, either alone or withappropriate input devices that may be required to generate theattributes under the CS. As another example, a self-contained biometricsensor, (e.g., a sensor sold under the brand name “LifeShirt” byVivoMetrics, Inc.), may be distributed with the cardiac condition CC242, and/or with body temperature, heart rate, blood pressure and bloodoxygen level context servers as noted above.

[0099] As yet another example, the user of the wearable computer 120 maywish to take up a new hobby such as scuba diving. As a result, the usermay purchase or receive a thematic set of attributes related to thetheme “scuba diving,” as well as associated input devices. The userpurchases, together as a package, a depth sensor, oxygen supply sensor,water current direction/velocity sensor, as well as additional inputdevices to replace existing devices (e.g., a video input device capableof being used under water). In addition, associated context servers canbe purchased together with such input devices or separately, such as awater depth context server for producing a water depth attribute, anoxygen level context server for producing an oxygen level attribute, awater direction/velocity context server for producing a watercurrent/velocity attribute, and the like. The thematic set of attributesassociated with this underwater attribute set then includes the waterdepth, oxygen level, water direction/velocity and other attributes.

[0100] In addition to themes related to bodily activities (e.g., scubadiving and task performance) and to physical condition (e.g., locationor cardiac condition), themes can also represent a mental or emotionalstate of a user, including a user's intentions or desires. For example,a cognitive load theme can include an attribute set whose individualattributes reflect context information such as whether the user istalking (and the volume of the speech), whether the user is talking onthe phone, physical movement such as walking or driving, whether theuser is stationary, whether the user is seated and stationary, ambientlight and sound, stress and hunger levels, a level of rest (e.g., a lowlevel due to a recent lack of sleep), current bodily activity such asreading e-mail or riding a bull, historical data (e.g., the user has alow threshold for cognitive load while watching baseball games), aphysical or mental disability, location (e.g., at home or therapist'soffice), the presence and frequency of user input such as keyboard ormouse activity, the presentation of output information to the user,emotional state, explicit indications from the user, etc. Indeed, thecognitive load attribute thematic set can contain numerous individualattributes which when aggregated provide a rich model of a user'scognitive load.

[0101] Another thematic attribute set employing numerous attributes toderive a higher-level concept is a desired level of privacy theme ordesired scope of audience theme. The desired level of privacy/desiredscope of audience themes may include individual attributes representingcontext information such as the identity of others near the user, theproximity of others to the user, explicit tagging of activities orinformation (e.g., email in my personal account is private for only me,while email in my family account is private for family members), thenature of work being performed (e.g., balancing a checkbook, playing acomputer game, or revising a business spreadsheet), location, historicaldata, explicit indications from user, and other attributes.

[0102] As can be appreciated from the above examples, individualattributes in a thematic set of attributes are generated or derived inany number of ways. Those skilled in the relevant art will appreciatethat the values for the attributes can be stored in a variety of ways(e.g., a number on a scale of 1-100 or 0-255, a probabilitydistribution, a value from a delimited set of possibilities, a fuzzylogic value, etc.). In addition, the above described detaileddescription of aspects of the invention may be abstracted to a moregeneral model, such as that shown in FIG. 7. A representation ofgenerating a thematic set of derived attributes based on input datasources, where such derived attributes may be used to modelcharacteristics of a user, is shown schematically as a system 700.Numerous input data sources 702 (1, 2, . . . N) are fed into severallogic modules 704 (1, 2, . . . N), which in turn produce respectivederived attributes 706 (1, 2, . . . N). For example, Input Data Sources1, representing measurements or signals from input devices, are fed intoa Logic Module 1 that includes rules for producing DerivedAttribute(s) 1. The Logic Module 1 may represent a CS or combined CS/CC.Likewise, a Logic Module 2 receives Input Data Sources 2 to produceDerived Attribute(s) 2. As shown by an arrow 708, the Input Data Sources2 also include input data from Input Data Sources 1. Thus, logic modulesmay share input data sources. As shown by an arrow 710, logic modulesmay also provide feedback to one another, such as a Derived Attribute 2being fed back as an input data source to the Logic Module N.

[0103] The logic modules 704 in the illustrated embodiment each processthe input data signals to produce derived attributes that could not bedirectly measured from the input data signals. Thus, such logic modulesmay provide intermediate or high-level attributes for modeling acharacteristic of a current state of the user. In other words, the logicmodules aggregate, interpret and provide attribute values that in turnmay be used to determine other characteristics of a user's situation orcontext. A thematic set of attributes based on a predetermined theme maybe those derived attributes from each of the logic modules 1, 2, . . .N. Moreover, a larger thematic set of attributes could include all ofthe derived attributes from all of the logic modules, (i.e., DerivedAttribute 1, Derived Attribute 2, . . . Derived Attribute N).

[0104] Importantly, each logic module may operate independently. Forexample, Logic Modules 1 and 2 produce at least Derived Attributes 1 and2, and have no need for coordinating with each other. Logic Module N,however, is dependent upon an input data source that is a derivedattribute from the Logic Module 2. Thus, Logic Module N produces DerivedAttributes N that cannot be independently measured or derived withoutthe Derived Attributes 2. For example, the Derived Attribute 2 mayreflect the user's cardiac condition, whereby the Derived Attribute Nmay characterize a user's mood based in part on his or her cardiaccondition.

[0105] Sets of attributes related to a common theme can be generated byone or more of the logic modules 704. For example, one logic module mayproduce a thematic set of attributes closely related to a given theme.The Logic Module 1, for example, may produce the location attribute setnoted above by performing the steps of module 400 of FIG. 4. Likewise,two or more of the logic modules may together produce attributes relatedto a common theme. Thus, the logic modules include various specializedsets of rules that are used to model particular aspects, environments orpersonas of the user and to produce corresponding sets of attributes.For example, sets of rules and corresponding sets of derived attributesmay be specialized based on occupation (e.g., a nurse, a secretary, afield technician, or a firefighter), gender (e.g., a woman's rules mayunderstand physiological symptoms related to pregnancy or otherfemale-specific conditions), age, or any of a variety of otherspecialization types.

[0106] A large number of themes can exist simultaneously or be usedalternately. In general, each thematic set of attributes shares a commontheme that characterizes or models a predetermined context of the user.What follows are examples of specialized themes for modelingcharacteristics of a user's current state.

[0107] Work—Attributes related to a work theme may include a location ofthe user's office, logical and telecommunications links for the user'se-mail, voicemail, and telecommunications connections, links to relevantemployee handbook materials, office guidelines, policies, access codesfor accessing elevators, rooms, floors, and the like. The work attributeset could be supplied to each new employee by the employer (includingprocedures, forms, access keys, etc. that are particular to theemployer).

[0108] Entertainment—Entertainment attribute sets may include attributesrelated to a user's favorite web sites, television channels, musicpreferences, and the like. Attributes may be based on whether the useris participating or viewing, such as whether the user is participatingin a sport or just viewing the sport. If viewing, for example, then aset of attributes may include relevant statistics, biographies onplayers, location of a sporting event, location of adjacent parkinglocations and restaurants, and the like.

[0109] Errands—such as the grocery store example above.

[0110] Health—such as the cardiac condition attribute set above;attributes may also include emergency services and reflect ways in whicha user's wearable PC may help the user provide or receive emergencyservices.

[0111] Safety—attributes may include OSHA regulations, escape routes,cautionary warnings (e.g., based on whether the computer detectshazards) and so forth to protect workers in a hostile environment.

[0112] Home including automatically adjusting environmental controls,selecting music and art, and so forth. A home attribute set may includeattributes related to a desired ambient temperature, music volume, musicselection, art genres to be displayed on high definition wall-mounteddisplay devices, automatic door opening and unlocking features, accessto hands-free telephone services such as voice mail and routing ofincoming telephone calls, and the like.

[0113] Children—for example, employing the location attribute set aboveto identify whether a child can be authorized to be at a given locationat a given time.

[0114] Place—such as the location CS and CCs explained above.

[0115] Law Enforcement—for example, employing the location attribute setabove to apply parole requirements and ensure a person is at the rightlocation at the right time.

[0116] Medical Personnel—A medical personnel attribute set would includenumerous biometric attributes, particularly ones to be received frombiometric sensors not related to a wearable computer worn by a medicalservice provider. Other attributes include attributes related to apatient's name, age, relevant insurance data, medical history, drugreactions, and the like. A medical personnel attribute set would beuseful in distributed environments where wearable computers communicatewith one another; for example, an EMT with a computer approaching aperson may receive data wirelessly from the person's wearable computer,or a surgeon approaching an EMT may allow the EMT to communicateinformation about the person to the surgeon's wearable computer.

[0117] Routing—common couriers and retailers may use specialized sets ofattributes to facilitate package/product routing.

[0118] Military—Attributes for a soldier or group of soldiers mayinclude relevant biometric attributes, location attributes, output froma video input device, output from an audio input device or microphone,attributes regarding nearby soldiers, attributes regarding the soldier'smood, and the like. These place, health, and other attributes of asoldier may then be provided to regional headquarters, and ultimately tothe Pentagon under a large hierarchical structure.

[0119] Astronaut/Scuba Pack—As noted above, specific attributes for aspace or underwater environment include depth/altitude, pressure, oxygenlevels, and the like.

[0120] Drivers/Pilots—Drivers or pilots of a car or plane or heavyequipment would expose certain attributes to the CM to allow a user tomore effectively pilot or operate such equipment.

[0121] Mood—As noted above, attributes related to mood may includebiometric information, such as the user's body temperature,galvanometric response, eye dilation attributes, brow furrowing sensorattributes, and the like. Additional attributes reflecting a moodattribute set include information reflecting a user's current activity(e.g., driving), speech patterns and tone, whether additional people arepresent and who such people are (e.g., ex-wife), and so forth.

[0122] Hostile Environment—Attributes related to a hostile environmentinclude many attribute sets noted above, including those for theastronauts/scuba pack, safety and location. Other attributes may includeattributes related to olfactory or chemical sensors that may detect thepresence of harmful chemicals in the air, a motion sensor attribute todetermine whether the user is being shaken, temperature sensors todetect ambient temperature, and the like.

[0123] Occupations—Attribute sets may differ for every human occupation.A computer programmer occupation attribute set may include numerousattributes related to logical data and telecommunications environment ofthe user, attributes related to database and numerous computer platformswith which the user may interact, and the like. Likewise, a patentattorney occupation attribute set may include attributes related to asmaller but different set of logical data and telecommunications links,including links to technical databases, previously drafted documents,patent office access attributes, as well as calendaring, contacts,docketing, word processing, and legal reference attributes.

[0124] A user's thematic set of attributes may well change as the userswitches roles or context. For example, the computer 120 can load andemploy the user's home attribute set when the user rises and preparesfor work. In transit, the computer 120 may employ a commuting attributeset, which may include links to previously identified news informationlinks or data feeds, together with cognitive load and user availabilityattributes. The commuting attribute set would then provide newsinformation that the user wishes to read or hear when the computerdetermines that the user's cognitive load and availability are suitable.Once the user arrives at work, the user's role changes, and the computerloads and employs the user's appropriate work or occupational attributeset. Context servers that supply attributes not relevant to theoccupational attribute set can be terminated. Of course, some attributesfrom the home and commuter attribute sets may still be relevant, andthus these context servers remain running (e.g., cognitive load orlocation attributes).

[0125] Under the above example, the computer 120 may switch themes fromhome to commuter and from commuter to work based on user specifications.Alternatively, the computer may automatically switch between themesbased on other information, such as a time attribute. Thus, from 6:00 amto 8:00 am, the computer employs the home theme, but from 8:00 to 9:00and 9:00 to 6:00, the computer employs the commuter and occupationalthemes respectively. Under another embodiment, the computer may employanother thematic set of attributes to determine which theme to employ.For example, the computer may employ information from the location themewhen using the following rules: when located at home, employ the user'shome theme; when moving rapidly (e.g., above 5 mph), employ the commutertheme; and when located at work, employ the work theme. When thecomputer is unsure as to which theme to employ, the computer may ask theuser for input to select the desired attribute set. Of course, the usermay override an automatically selected attribute set if desired.

[0126] In addition to switching between thematic sets of attributes (andcorresponding context servers), the computer 120 may load and employ newthematic attributes while existing attribute sets remain active. Forexample, the user may travel to Guatemala to go scuba diving. Since theuser does not know how Spanish and is unfamiliar with the area, the usermay load a Guatemalan travel attribute set. The attribute set mayinclude context servers (which produce corresponding attributes) for thefollowing: translating Spanish language audio and text intocorresponding English audio and text attributes, providing Guatemalaetiquette attributes, hostile situation prediction attributes (ifpolitical tensions are high or the State Department has issued travelerwarnings), and the like. Additionally, context servers may be requiredto be modified in light of the location, such as context servers forproviding attributes based on the user's logical data andtelecommunications state where access to telecommunications differ fromthose in the user's home location. These new thematic attribute sets maybe loaded and employed with existing attribute sets, such as the scubadiving attribute set when the user is engaged in scuba diving inGuatemala.

[0127] The thematic attribute sets allow the user's wearable computer120 to characterize the user's context and react accordingly. In otherembodiments, such context characterization may be performed elsewhere.For example, lower-level attribute and context characterization may beperformed by remote sensors, with such attribute sets provided to theuser's computer 120 that can in turn be provided or presented to the CMand context clients. This may be one way in which users may optimizetheir wearable computers. Other ways involve business orsituation-specific occasions where the wearable computer responds to andchanges the computer itself or the context characterizations that arepresented to the user. As an example, a previously created thematicattribute set with respect to a particular occupation (e.g., lawenforcement) can be loaded by the computer to readily provide moreaccurate contextual information to the user without human intervention.While a simpler context characterization system may ultimately correctlydetermine the user's context in a law enforcement environment, providinga specialized thematic attribute set for law enforcement significantlyshortcuts the computer's learning process.

[0128] Each thematic attribute set may also include relationshipsbetween attributes (e.g., inter-attribute logic) based on the theme. Inone embodiment, attributes may be selected from sets of predefinedattributes available for all context servers and clients. Suchpredefined sets of attributes allow a common meaning to be sharedbetween context clients and context servers for those attributes andtheir associated values, and can also allow a context client to requesta pre-defined attribute without having to determine whether theattribute has been created by a context server.

[0129] In one embodiment a plain-language, hierarchical, taxonometricattribute nomenclature is used to name attributes, such as the exampleattribute nomenclature illustrated in FIG. 8. The names within thenomenclature are preferably specific so that there is no ambiguity as towhat they represent, and the ability to extend the nomenclature byadding new attribute names that conform to the hierarchical taxonomy ofthe nomenclature is preferably supported. The nomenclature preferablyhas attribute names relating to a variety of aspects of the user. Forexample, as is illustrated in FIG. 8, the nomenclature preferably hasattribute names relating to the user's location, such asuser.location.latitude, user.location.building, anduser.location.street; the user's movement, such as user.speed anduser.direction; various user moods, such as user.mood.happiness,user.mood.anger, and user.mood.confusion; user activities, such asuser.activity.driving, user.activity.eating, and user.activity.sleeping;user physiology values, such as user.physiology.body_temperature anduser.physiology.blood_pressure; similar attributes of people other thanthe user, such as person.John_Smith.mood.happiness; attribute names foraspects of the computer system (or “platform”) and its user interface(or “UI”) capabilities, such asplatform.UI.oral_input_device_availability andplatform.UI.visual_output_device_availability; attribute names forattributes relating to the central processing unit (or “CPU”) of theplatform, such as platform.cpu.load and platform.cpu.speed; attributenames for aspects of the local environment, such asenvironment.local.temperature and environment.local.ambient_noise_level;attribute names for remote environments, such asenvironment.place.chicago.time andenvironment.place.san_diego.temperature; and attribute names relating tospecific applications (e.g., aspects of an email application), such asapplication.mail.available, application.mail.new_messages_waiting, andapplication.mail.messages_waiting_to_be_sent. In this manner, theattribute nomenclature provides effective names for attributes relatingto the user, the computer system, and the environment. Additionalattributes are illustrated in FIG. 8, while FIG. 9 illustrates analternate hierarchical taxonomy related to context, such that variousattributes could be added for each of the illustrated categories. Thoseskilled in the art will appreciate that for both FIG. 8 and FIG. 9,other categories and attributes could be added and existing categoriesand attributes could be removed or could have alternate names.

[0130] Based on the above, those skilled in the relevant art canappreciate that separate thematic attribute sets may be created byselecting individual attributes from the hierarchy presented in FIG. 8or in FIG. 9. For example, an occupational set of attributes mayinclude: User.Location, User.Destination, and User.Proximity (selectedfrom the User attributes of FIG. 8), [Secretary].Location,[Secretary].Activity and [Secretary].Availability (selected from thePerson attributes), Environment.Local.Time and Environment.Local.Date(selected from the Environment attributes) and Application.Mail andApplication.Phone (selected from the Application attributes).

[0131] Furthermore, under another embodiment, thematic sets ofattributes fall into any of the following general classes:

[0132] 1. Attributes related to the user's body and senses, includingvisual, auditory, health and physiology;

[0133] 2. Attributes related to the user's feeling, including mood andgeneral temperament;

[0134] 3. Attributes related to the user's place and movement withrespect to places, including transportation, vehicles, physicalenvironment, home, office, and the like;

[0135] 4. Attributes relating to measurement and shape including size,form, texture and the like;

[0136] 5. Attributes relating to living things and natural phenomenon,such as plants, animals, weather and the like;

[0137] 6. Attributes relating to the user's behavior and will, includingveracity, motivation, impairment, skill and the like;

[0138] 7. Attributes relating to language, including means ofcommunication, language, diction, meaning and the like;

[0139] 8. Attributes relating to society and institutions, includingfamily, school, friendship, management and the like;

[0140] 9. Attributes relating to values and ideals, includingright/wrong, justice/injustice, religion, ethics and the like;

[0141] 10. Attributes relating to arts, including literature, motionpictures, architecture and the like;

[0142] 11. Attributes relating to occupation and crafts, includingfinancial matters, user's vocation and avocations, and the like;

[0143] 12. Attributes related to sports and amusements, such asbaseball, skiing, card playing and the like; and

[0144] 13. Attributes related to science and technology, including theuser's computer, logical and telecommunications connectivity andenvironment, physical qualities of materials, pure and applied sciencesand the like.

[0145] Many of the above classes of attributes reflect three states of auser's context: a state of the user, a state of the user's physicalsurroundings, and a state of the user's logical data andtelecommunications environment. The state of the user includes not onlythe user's physical and health condition, but also the user's mood,predisposition, preferences, memory and the like. The user's physicalsurroundings include the state of the user's computer, the user'sphysical location, the user's home, office, and common surroundings, andthe status of those surroundings. The user's logical data andtelecommunications environment (“virtual environment” or “cybersurroundings”) reflect connectivity between the user's PC and externalcomputing devices and/or data stored external to the user's wearablecomputer. For example, the user's logical data and telecommunicationsenvironment may represent IP addresses or ports to which the user'scomputer may couple or interface to exchange data with the externalworld, as well as to access the user's data such as from databases.

[0146] In a broad sense, aspects of the invention are directed to anydata processing system for use by a user. The data processing systemincludes at least first and second data sources, at least one dataoutput receiver, and at least one processing unit with associatedmemory. The data sources provide respective first and second datasignals, where the first and second data signals each reflect the stateof the user, a state of the user's physical surroundings, or a state ofthe user's logical data and telecommunications environment. The firstand second data signals together represent a thematic data setcharacterizing the user's context. The processing unit receives thefirst and second data signals and executes at least one processingroutine that receives the first and second data signals and provides anoutput signal to the data output receiver, with the output signalrepresenting a characteristic of a current state of the user that cannotbe directly measured from the first and second data signals. Theprocessing unit may also execute another processing routine that employsthe first and second or other data signals to represent anothercharacteristic of a current state of the user, with the two processesoperating independently.

[0147] Those skilled in the relevant art will also appreciate thatspecialized versions of the body-mounted computer 120, characterizationsystem 100, context servers and context client can be created for avariety of purposes. For example, embodiments of the system can becustomized for particular professions to better enable the system toautomatically create context models for members of those professions—insome such situations, the computer 120 may include a particular set ofinput devices and associated context servers for producing attributesfor a particular profession. Alternately, embodiments of thecharacterization system can be customized for users' health problems,such as for people with Alzheimer's disease, cardiac disease orpulmonary concerns. Those skilled in the relevant art will appreciatethat a variety of such physiological conditions can be monitored, andthat other specialized versions of the system can similarly beimplemented.

[0148] Thus, as discussed above, themes can be used to represent a widevariety of types of contextual aspects or situations, and often reflecthigh-level concepts of activities or states that may not be capturedwith individual attributes. In addition, information from and aboutcurrent themes can be used by a computing device (e.g., a wearablecomputer) to provide appropriate responses as the current contextchanges. In particular, in some embodiments information about one ormore current themes is used (e.g., by one or more executing CCs) topresent appropriate information and provide appropriate functionality toa user of the device.

[0149] In order to use information about a current theme to presentappropriate information and functionality, it is first necessary toidentify a theme that matches the current context. In an illustrativeembodiment discussed below, each theme specifies a set of multipleattributes, and includes for each of the specified attributes one ormore possible values for the attribute. Such a theme will match thecurrent modeled context only if all the specified attributes havecurrent values in the modeled context that are one of their possiblevalues. In some embodiments, moreover, each specified attribute alsoincludes an indication of whether it is required for the theme, and insuch embodiments the theme can still match the current context even ifthe current values for non-required attributes do not match thespecified possible values. Those skilled in the art will appreciate thatin some embodiments all specified attributes may be treated as beingrequired, while in other embodiments attribute relevance can bespecified in other ways (e.g., as optional, preferred, disfavored, witha numerical ranking, etc.). In addition to specified attributes, eachtheme can also specify inter-attribute logic. Such logic can providevarious functionality, including allowing for more sophisticateddetermination of whether a theme matches the current context byconcurrently analyzing multiple attributes in the specified set, such asby using boolean logic (e.g., (Attribute1[value]=“High” ORAttribute2[value]>10) AND NOT Attribute1[Uncertainty]=“High”) or othertypes of processing.

[0150] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that any changes in themodeled context can cause the current theme to no longer match thecurrent context and/or cause another theme that did not match theprevious modeled context to now match the current context. As such, thetheme that is identified as the current theme can rapidly change basedon the changing context. If a change in the modeled context causes theprevious current theme to no longer match the current context and noother themes match the current context, various techniques can be usedto continue to provide appropriate responses to the user. In someembodiments the previous current theme will continue to be treated asthe current theme until another theme matches the current modeledcontext. In other embodiments the user could be prompted, or other logicor information (e.g., default or preference information) could be used,to select a non-matching theme as a temporary current theme. In yetother embodiments, additional themes may be loaded or retrieved in anattempt to make available a theme that matches the current modeledcontext. Alternately, no theme may be identified as the current themeuntil changes in the modeled context (or in one of the available themes)causes one of the available themes to match the context.

[0151] In the illustrative embodiment in which theme information is usedto present appropriate information and provide appropriatefunctionality, each theme has at least one associated theme layout thatindicates information and functionality appropriate to that theme. Thesetheme layouts assist in presenting appropriate information andfunctionality controls to a user. In particular, each theme layout canindicate specific content or types of content appropriate for thattheme, data logic (e.g., an executable script) for processing contentbefore presentation (e.g., to manipulate COM objects to retrieve data orto establish a connection to an external database to allow retrieval ofdata), presentation logic (e.g., instructions or preferences) todetermine how the content should be presented to the user in a mannerconsistent with the theme, and functionality controls consistent withthe theme that allow interaction by the user with presented (andnon-presented) content. When a theme is selected as the current theme,one of the theme layouts associated with that theme can then be used toprovide to the user information and functionality appropriate to thecurrent theme.

[0152] In some embodiments, multiple themes can simultaneously match thecurrent context, and these matching themes are referred to as thecurrent theme set. For example, a user may both be “At Work” and “In AMeeting,” or “At Work” and “Talking On The Telephone.” Even though auser may simultaneously be involved with or part of multiple matchingthemes, each of the themes may have different types of appropriateinformation and functionality. For example, if the “At Work” theme isthe only current theme, the user may desire to see their work to-do listand indications of other co-workers who are nearby, while if the user istalking on the telephone the user may prefer to have access toinformation about the other people that are part of the conversation aswell as a functionality for taking notes. Thus, in order to determinewhat information and functionality is to be presented to the user at anytime, a mechanism is needed for selecting one or more appropriate themelayouts for presentation. In the illustrated embodiment, only a singletheme layout is presented at a time, and therefore the selectionmechanism first identifies one of the themes in the current theme set asbeing the current theme. After the current theme is identified, one ofthe theme layouts associated with that theme can then be selected as thecurrent theme layout for presentation to the user.

[0153] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that in otherembodiments multiple theme layouts (whether they are associated with asingle current theme or with multiple themes, such as the multiplethemes in the current theme set) could simultaneously be used to provideappropriate information and functionality to a user, such as indifferent windows on a display device, by using multiple output devices,by synthesizing some or all of the multiple theme layouts together intoa single presentation, etc. Those skilled in the art will alsoappreciate that even though one of the themes in the current theme setmay be identified as the current theme for purposes of determining whattheme layout to use, other types of processing may concurrently beoccurring (e.g., in the background) for other themes in the currenttheme set. For example, a safety theme could execute in the backgroundwhile a user is driving a car, and if a safety theme rule or other logicis triggered (e.g., by a road-traction attribute having its value changeto “slippery”) the safety theme could take appropriate action (e.g.,modify the value of a context attribute, override the current themelayout and present a warning message, notify an executing softwaremodule to log detailed context information, etc.).

[0154] The selection of a current theme from multiple matching themes inthe current theme set can be performed in a variety of ways. At aconceptual level, the user will typically desire to receive theinformation and functionality for whatever theme the user subjectivelyconsiders to be the most important at that time (e.g., the primary focusof their attention or interest, or the most theme conveying the mosturgent or critical information), and thus it is preferable to selectthat theme as the current theme. In some situations the various themesmay contain information to facilitate the selection, such as a priority.If so, the highest priority theme in the current theme set could beselected as the current theme. In other situations, user-specificinformation could be used to select the current theme, such as by usinguser-specific preference information (e.g., that is predefined by theuser) or by allowing the user to explicitly select one of the themes inthe current theme set (or to override the current theme set and select atheme that does not match the current modeled context). Alternately, insome embodiments the themes in the current theme set could have anassociated degree of match (e.g., by using the presence or absence ofnon-required attributes for the theme), and the theme with the highestdegree of match could be selected. In yet other embodiments, themescould be grouped or associated with each other in various manners, andsuch groupings could be used to select the current theme. For example, atheme such as the “At Work” theme may be a relatively high-level generaltheme that has more-specific sub-themes (e.g., “Attending A Meeting” or“Writing A Memo”)—if so, the most-specific (or least-specific) matchingtheme could be selected as the current theme. Similarly, a general“Talking To Another Person” theme could have one or more more-specificsub-themes such as “Talking To Spouse” theme—those skilled in the artwill appreciate that the types of information of interest may differbased on the people, objects or places that are of current relevance.Alternately, themes could be categorized in various ways (e.g.,entertainment, convenience, productivity, and safety), and the currenttheme could be selected on the basis of belonging to a category ofcurrent highest importance or interest. Those skilled in the art willappreciate that a current theme could be selected in a variety of othersimilar ways.

[0155] In a similar manner, the selection of a current theme layout forthe current theme can be performed in a variety of ways. In someembodiments, each theme will have only one associated theme layout, andif so the single theme layout associated with the current theme isselected. In other embodiments different theme layouts for the sametheme could be specialized for different situations (e.g., optimized fordifferent types of output devices, different times of the day, week,month or year, different geographical locations, etc.), and if so themost appropriate theme layout for the current situation could beselected. In yet other situations one of the theme layouts associatedwith the current theme is a default theme layout, and if so it will beinitially selected as the current theme layout. Alternately, the usercould be prompted to indicate which theme layout to be used for thecurrent theme layout, either before or after any of the theme layoutsfor the theme have been presented. If user preference information isavailable (e.g., predefined information), such information could also beused in place of an explicit user indication.

[0156] Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that even if asingle theme layout is associated with the current theme, that themelayout could include logic or other information that allows it tooptimized or modified in various ways depending on the context at thetime it is presented. For example, the single theme layout could includeinformation to optimize the output for different output device types, orto change the information and/or functionality available based oninformation about the user (e.g., the user's demographic information,current occupation, a characterization of the user as a novice or anexpert with respect to the current theme, a current role in which theuser is acting such as a system administrator rather than an ordinaryuser, a current mode of the user such as work or a social environment,etc.).

[0157]FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of acomputing device suitable for using theme and theme layout informationto present appropriate information and functionality to a user based onthe current context. In particular, a Thematic Response computing device1000 is illustrated that can combine various context, content, theme,and user information in order to provide appropriate responses to theuser based on the current theme. In some embodiments, the ThematicResponse computing device may be a wearable personable computer thatstores and executes each of the illustrated modules and data structures,while in other embodiments other computing device configurations arepossible.

[0158] The computing device includes a CPU 1005, a storage 1020, memory1030, and various I/O devices that include a network connection 1012, acomputer-readable media drive 1013, various input devices 1015 andvarious output devices 1017. The storage includes various data specificto the computing device and the device user (not shown), includingstored content 1021 for presentation. multiple user-specific themes 1023(e.g., themes that have been previously created by the user and/ordownloaded to the device and customized by the user), multiple themelayouts 1025 that are associated with the themes, various userpreference and customization data 1027, and various platform data 1029related to the computing device. In other embodiments that focus onusing theme-related information to provide appropriate responses to theuser other than the presentation of appropriate information, the themelayouts may be replaced by or supplemented with other types of themeresponse indicators that are associated with the various themes.

[0159] Various modules are executing in the memory, and they use variousdata (including the stored data) to provide appropriate information andfunctionality to a user of the computing device. In particular, aContext Modeler component 1031 is executing in memory in order to createand maintain a context model 1033 that describes the current context ofthe computing device and the device user. As previously discussed, theContext Modeler component can receive various context information 1060that is already in the form of context attributes, or it can insteadprocess received context information in order to convert it to contextattribute form, and then stores current values (and other associatedinformation) for the context attributes in the context model aspreviously discussed. In some embodiments, the Context Modeler componentcould be a collection of one or more CSes, or could instead be a CMreceiving such information from other CSes that are not shown. Thoseskilled in the art will appreciate that in other embodiments the ContextModeler component could be executing on another device and/or thecontext model could be stored on another if the computing device hasaccess to that other device.

[0160] A Context Chooser component 1032 is also executing in memory. TheContext Chooser component allows the user to explicitly set or modifyvarious types of context information, and makes corresponding changes tothe context model 1033. In so doing, the Context Chooser component canpresent appropriate information (e.g., current values for specifiedtypes of context information and interaction controls to allow valuemodification) to the user via one or more of the output devices, and canreceive instructions and new context information from the user via theinput devices. In some embodiments, there is a theme associated with theuser explicitly modifying the current context information, and the userinterface of the Context Chooser component is implemented via one ofmore theme layouts associated with that theme.

[0161] The memory also includes an executing Theme Modeler component1040 that repeatedly identifies a current theme set having definedthemes that match the current context, selects a current theme, and thenselects an appropriate type of response based on the current theme. Inthe illustrated embodiment that focuses on presentation of appropriateinformation and functionality, the selection of an appropriate type ofresponse includes selecting a current theme layout to be used inpresenting appropriate information and functionality to the user. Thoseskilled in the art will appreciate that in some embodiments the ThemeModeler component could be implemented as a CC.

[0162] The Theme Modeler component includes sub-components that includesa Current Theme Set Determiner 1045, a Current Theme Identifier 1043,and a Current Theme Layout Selector 1041. The Current Theme SetDeterminer component receives information about the current context fromthe context model 1033 and about the defined themes 1023, and determinesa current theme set by identifying the themes that match the currentcontext. In some embodiments, the Current Theme Set Determiner componentcreates or updates a current theme set data structure (not illustrated)in memory or on the storage.

[0163] The Current Theme Identifier component then receives informationabout the themes in the current theme set, and selects a current themethat is intended to reflect the current or new focus of the user'sattention. In some embodiments, the Current Theme Identifier componentwill use user preference data and/or platform data in order to assist inthe selection of the current theme. In some embodiments, the CurrentTheme Identifier component will create or modify a current theme datastructure (not illustrated) in memory or on the storage.

[0164] The Current Theme Layout Selector component next receivesinformation about the current theme and about one or more theme layoutsthat are associated with the current theme, and selects one of the themelayouts to be used to present information to the user. In someembodiments, the Current Theme Layout Selector will use user preferencedata and/or platform data in order to select the current theme layout.In addition, in some embodiments the Current Theme Layout Selectorcomponent will create or maintain a current theme layout data structure(not illustrated) in memory or on the storage.

[0165] A Theme Layout Presenter component 1035 is also executing inmemory, and it is responsible for the presentation of appropriateinformation and functionality to the user. As with the Theme Modelercomponent, the Theme Layout Presenter component could be implemented insome embodiments as a CC. The Theme Layout Presenter component receivesinformation about the current theme layout, and processes that themelayout to generate an appropriate presentation for the user. Inparticular, the Theme Layout Presenter component will gather variouscontent that is specified by the current theme layout, whether it isstored as part of the current theme layout, stored separately as content1021 on the computing device, or stored externally as various content1070. The Theme Layout Presenter component can also receive and use userpreference and/or customization data, such as to adjust the presentationfor user preferences (e.g., to use a specified a appearance scheme, orto use specific types of user interaction controls) or to customize adefault theme layout in various ways. In a similar manner, the ThemeLayout Presenter component can also receive and use platform data toadjust the presentation, such as to determine available and/or optimaloutput devices, or to optimize the information and interactions to bepresented based on the output devices to be used. While not shown in theillustrated embodiment, the Theme Layout Presenter component could alsoin some embodiments receive and use various context information from thecontext model.

[0166] After gathering the appropriate information and processing it asneeded, the Theme Layout Presenter component then presents theappropriate information and interaction controls on the appropriateoutput devices. In some embodiments, the Theme Layout Presentercomponent will also selectively control various input devices, such asto enable or disable such devices depending on the available interactioncontrols and functionality of the current presentation. In addition, insome embodiments information received from the user via the inputdevices can be provided to and used by Theme Layout Presenter componentin order to modify the current theme layout presentation, or couldsimilarly be provided to and used by the Context Modeler component,Context Chooser component, and/or Theme Modeler component. Those skilledin the art will appreciate that in other embodiments that focus onproviding appropriate responses based on the current theme that involveresponses other than presenting appropriate information, the ThemeLayout Presenter component could be replaced by or supplemented with amore general Theme Response Generator component.

[0167] In the illustrated embodiment, the Thematic Response computingdevice is also communicating with other computing devices 1050 via anetwork 1080. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that in otherembodiments the Thematic Response computing device may execute as aself-contained stand-alone device. Conversely, in other embodiments someor all of the stored data or executing components may be located on oneor more of the other computing devices, with the data or executionresults provided to the Thematic Response computing device as needed.For example, in some embodiments the Thematic Response computing devicecould be a thin client that had little or no computing or storagecapabilities, instead acting merely as a input device and/or an outputpresentation device for other computing devices. In addition, thoseskilled in the art will appreciate that the Thematic Response computingdevice can obtain content and context information from a variety ofexternal sources, including one or more of the computing devices 1050and other external data sources (not shown).

[0168] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that computing devices1000 and 1050 are merely illustrative and are not intended to limit thescope of the present invention. Computer system 1000 may be connected toother devices that are not illustrated, including through one or morenetworks such as the Internet or via the World Wide Web (WWW). Inaddition, the functionality provided by the illustrated components mayin some embodiments be combined in fewer components or distributed inadditional components. Similarly, in some embodiments the functionalityof some of the illustrated components may not be provided and/or otheradditional functionality may be available. For example, in someembodiments automated context modeling functionality may not beprovided, while in other embodiments additional functionality may beavailable to allow a user to create, modify, customize, distribute,retrieve, purchase, sell, and otherwise use themes and theme-relatedinformation.

[0169] Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that, while variouscomponents and the context model are illustrated as being stored inmemory while being used, these items or portions of them can betransferred between memory and other storage devices for purposes ofmemory management and data integrity. Similarly, data illustrated asbeing present on storage while being used can instead be present inmemory and transferred between storage and memory. Alternately, in otherembodiments some or all of the software modules may execute in memory onanother device and communicate with the computing device 1000 viainter-computer communication. Some or all of the components or datastructures may also be stored (e.g., as instructions or structured data)on a computer-readable medium, such as a hard disk, a memory, a network,or a portable article to be read by an appropriate drive. The componentsand data structures can also be transmitted as generated data signals(e.g., as part of a carrier wave) on a variety of computer-readabletransmission mediums, including wireless-based and wired/cable-basedmediums.

[0170] In addition, a computing device or computer may comprise anycombination of hardware or software that can provide storage, provideprocessing, provide input or output capability, and/or interact withother devices that provide such capabilities, including computers,network devices, internet appliances, PDAs, wireless phones, pagers,electronic organizers, television-based systems and various otherconsumer products that include inter-communication capabilities.Accordingly, the present invention may be practiced with other computersystem configurations.

[0171] FIGS. 11A-11L provide various examples of changing theme layoutpresentations based on changes to a current context, and FIGS. 11M-11Oprovide examples of explicit user control of various theme-relatedinformation. In the theme layout presentations illustrated, only thevisual aspects of the theme layout presentation are illustrated—thoseskilled in the art will appreciate that other types of output devicesand user senses could be used either concurrently or alternatively. Inaddition, in the illustrated embodiment the theme layout presentation isperformed by a wearable personal computer that remains with the userthroughout a day. In most situations the illustrated theme layoutpresentation will fill a display screen available on the wearablecomputer, although those skilled in the art will appreciate that thewearable personal computer could also opportunistically use otherdisplay devices as they become available and that other informationcould additionally be displayed.

[0172] With respect to FIG. 11A, a wearable computing device user hasrecently risen, and the wearable determines that the most appropriatecurrent theme layout is one related to a current “Starting The Day”theme. As is shown, the theme layout presentation includes a variety ofdifferent types of content sets, such as news headlines 1105, a currentto-do list 1110, and a schedule/calendar 1115. Such content sets can begathered from a variety of sources, such as the news headlines beingretrieved from an external source (e.g., a news organization's web siteor subscription service), the to-do list and calendar being retrievedfrom the user's personal or work data store, or context attributeinformation such as the inside temperature 1109 or indications of peopleat home being retrieved from an appropriate context model or contextinformation supplier. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that thetheme layout can specify the manner in which to gather the informationin a variety of ways, such as a URL, a database query, executable logicsuch as a script, etc.

[0173] In addition to presenting various information, variousfunctionality and interaction controls are also presented to the user.For example, as is shown in the news headline section of the themelayout presentation, a scroll bar interaction control is available, andother non-visible interaction controls (e.g., a pop-up menu based on auser indication or cursor position) may also be available. In addition,some or all of the presented information may itself be selectable by theuser, such as to select a new theme and present correspondinginformation. For example, each of the headlines may be selectable by theuser, and if the user selects a headline such as headline 1107 thecurrent theme could switch to a “Reading News” theme whose associatedtheme layout presentation would include the corresponding news story.Similarly, the user could select an item on the to-do list such as task1112 in order to be presented with more detailed information about thetask or to modify the task (e.g., to change its priority or indicatethat it is completed). Similarly, the user could select a personindication such as “The Wife” 1117 to obtain information about thatperson (e.g., their current status with respect to getting ready).

[0174] The current theme layout presentation also illustrates thatpresented information can be specific to the user (e.g., the to-dolist), specific to a group or other category to which the user belongs(e.g., the calendar information if it is retrieved from a company-widework calendar rather than the user's personal calendar), or independentof the user (e.g., current world headlines). In most embodiments, if the“Starting The Day” theme and its associated theme layout weredistributed to another user, user-specific or group-specific data willnot accompany the theme and theme layout. For example, the presentationof this same theme layout for a different user may have the same typesof presented information and may include the same current worldwideheadlines, but the actual data presented in the other sections of thepresentation would be modified to reflect the new user (e.g., retrievinga value for the inside temperature attribute 1109 from a context modelfor the new user, and retrieving to-do list and calendar information forthat new user). While not illustrated in the current theme layoutpresentation, those skilled in the art will also appreciate that sometheme layout presentations can include static information stored withthe theme or theme layout, such as a smiley face logo to be displayed ora indication of lateness that is displayed if the current time exceedssome defined deadline information.

[0175] After the user gets ready, they begin to drive to work, and thewearable personal computer accordingly modifies the current theme layoutpresentation to that illustrated in FIG. 11B. As is shown, a variety oftypes of information can be displayed, such as a text description of thedestination 1120, a local map 1121, text driving directions 1122, anupdated traffic congestion map 1123, schedule information 1125, andtask-related information 1127. As with other theme layout presentations,the data to be presented can be retrieved in various ways, such asinteractively from external data stores or instead from a local datastore. In addition, those skilled in the art will appreciate thatdifferent theme layout presentations can share information with othertheme layout presentations, such as schedule information being availablein this and the previously illustrated theme layout presentation.

[0176]FIG. 11C illustrates that as the user arrives at work a new themelayout presentation will be used that includes information more relevantto the workplace than to driving, such as an indication of people in thebuilding. This theme layout presentation also illustrates that data forpresentation can be gathered by interacting with other context models,such as determining the people that are currently in the building orretrieving work bulletin board information by querying a context modelor other data store for the workplace. When retrieving such information,those skilled in the art will appreciate that access controls orsecurity measures can be used as appropriate in order to protect privateor sensitive information. After the user enters the workplace, thecurrent theme layout presentation switches to a generic “At Work” themelayout that is illustrated in FIG. 11D. This theme layout presentationincludes calendar information, task list information, and indications ofnearby people.

[0177]FIG. 11E illustrates a different type of theme layout presentationthat is specific to a particular person. In particular, the user'swearable computing device may have determined that the user has begun totalk to one of the nearby people, Bill Watson. Alternately, the systemmay have an important reminder related to Bill, and thus modified thedisplay to provide that information to the user. Alternately, the usermay have interactively selected the displayed indication 1130 of BillWatson in FIG. 11D. Regardless of the manner in which this Person themewas selected, the corresponding theme layout presentation can includevarious relevant information such as a picture of the person, contactinformation about them, and reminders related to the person. In thecurrent situation, a generic person theme layout is currently beingused, with Bill Watson being selected as the current topic or focus. Asillustrated by interaction control 1135, the user could interactivelyselect a different user, and if so the sections of the theme layoutpresentation would remain the same but the specific informationdisplayed would change to correspond to the newly selected person. Forother people or in other embodiments, more specific theme layoutpresentations could be used. For example, if the topic of the persontheme was instead the user's boss or the CEO of the company, the usermay have a theme layout that is specific to that person and thatincludes other types of relevant information or functionality.Similarly, if the topic of the person theme was a member of the user'swork group, a theme layout specific to that group could be used. If thesystem determines that it is no longer appropriate to display the Persontheme layout (whether automatically or via an explicit user indication),the system could then return to the general At Work theme layoutpresentation previously illustrated in FIG. 11D.

[0178]FIG. 11F illustrates a more specific work theme layoutpresentation that is relevant when the user is attending a meeting. Inaddition to indicating people present in the meeting, the theme layoutpresentation can include a section for previously recorded notes and/ornew notes to be generated during the meeting. In addition, theillustrated meeting theme layout presentation includes information aboutthings to mention at the meeting, some of which may be standard for eachstatus meeting and others may be specific to the current meeting. FIG.11G illustrates another person theme that has Dan Newell as the topic.Information about a person can be displayed in various situations, suchas if the system automatically detects that the person is speaking inthe meeting or that the person has become the focus of the user'sattention (e.g., by the user looking at them for a sustained period orby the user explicitly indicating that person). FIGS. 11H and 11Iillustrate other theme layout presentations that may be used throughoutthe day, such as a theme layout presentation related to going to lunchor to a specific task such as repairing a computer. As with thepreviously discussed Person theme, the computer repair theme layoutpresentation illustrated in FIG. 11I is an object-specific theme inwhich a particular object (e.g., “Josh's Computer”) is currentlyselected as the topic of the theme and the theme layout correspondinglydisplays information related to that object.

[0179]FIG. 11J illustrates a theme layout presentation for a “DrivingHome” theme that is similar to the “Driving To Work” theme previouslydiscussed. In some embodiments, a generic Driving To Location themecould be used in which a specific location was the topic of the theme.However, in the illustrated embodiment it is appropriate to presentdifferent types of information and controls to the user when they aredriving home than were appropriate when the user was driving to work.For example, the illustrated Driving Home theme layout presentationincludes current information about the status of specific people such asthe user's wife and objects such as the user's house. In addition, theillustrated theme layout presentation includes interaction controls 1145to provide currently appropriate functionality, such as to turn on theheat at home or to call the user's wife.

[0180]FIG. 11K illustrates the presentation of information related to asafety theme layout. In particular, a “Safety” theme has been executingin the background throughout the day (e.g., by being designed to alwaysmatch any context and thus be part of every current theme set), andlogic associated with the Safety theme (e.g., a rule) has detected asudden safety danger. In the illustrated embodiment, the wearablecomputing device has received information that traffic will abruptlyslow or stop. Since the Safety theme has precedence over the DrivingHome theme (e.g., has a higher priority), the Safety theme takes overthe display and issues a warning message 1190. In the illustratedembodiment, the Safety theme layout presentation does not completelyreplace the previous theme layout presentation, but insteadsimultaneously presents information. Those skilled in the art willappreciate that in other embodiments the Safety theme layoutpresentation would completely replace the previously presented themelayout. In addition, the visual aspect of the Safety theme layoutpresentation may also be accompanied by other non-visible presentation,such as an auditory alert and/or a haptic notification.

[0181]FIG. 11L illustrates a theme layout presentation related to the“Arriving Home” theme. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that thetheme layout presentations illustrated in FIGS. 11A-11L are provided forillustrative purposes only, and are not intended to limit the scope ofthe invention.

[0182] FIGS. 11M-11O provide examples of user interfaces with which auser can explicitly select or modify theme-related information. Inparticular, FIG. 11M provides an example user interface with which auser can select a new current theme. In particular, a variety ofpossible themes 1150 are illustrated, with the current theme visuallyindicated in this example embodiment in bold. Those skilled in the artwill appreciate that in some embodiments any defined themes may be madeavailable for selection (including themes not currently loaded, such asthemes accessible from a local or remote storage location), while inother embodiments the themes displayed may be limited in variousfashions (e.g., to themes in the current theme set). In addition, theillustrated embodiment demonstrates that displayed themes can also begrouped or categorized in various ways, such as by including awork-related group of themes 1155 that includes multiple themes. If auser selects a new current theme, the system can modify the currentdisplay to reflect a theme layout associated with the new current theme,such as after the user indicates a final selection with the “OK”interaction control 1157. Alternately, the user in the illustratedembodiment can use the “Cancel” interaction control 1157 to retain thepreviously selected current theme.

[0183] In a similar manner, FIG. 11N illustrates an example userinterface to allow a user to explicitly modify the themes that are partof the current theme set. As with FIG. 11M, the user interface in FIG.11N illustrates multiple themes 1150, but the illustrated themes arelimited to those that are currently members of the current theme set. Inaddition, interaction controls 1157 allow the user to add or remove atheme from the current theme set. Selecting the “Add Theme” interactioncontrol may, for example, prompt a display such as is shown for FIG. 11Min which one or more themes that are not currently present in thecurrent theme set can be selected. Those skilled in the art willappreciate that other interaction controls could also be present, suchas a control to temporarily suspend the execution of a theme that ispart of the current theme set without removing it or to resume theexecution of a suspended theme. Those skilled in the art will appreciatethat the addition of new themes to the current theme set can result inthemes that do not match the current context being executed in thebackground, but processing or other functionality associated with thosethemes (discussed in greater detail below) may nonetheless be currentlyuseful.

[0184]FIG. 11O provides an example user interface with which a user canselect a new theme layout to be the current theme layout, thusexplicitly modifying the current presentation of information andfunctionality. As previously discussed, users can also explicitly selectnew current theme layouts in other manners, such as by selectinginformation related to a person, place, or object that is presented aspart of another theme layout presentation. In the illustratedembodiment, multiple theme layouts for the current theme are displayedfor selection by the user, with the current theme layout visuallyindicated in a bold manner. If the user selects a different theme layoutand selects the “OK” interaction control 1157, the system will modifythe presentation of information and functionality to the user to reflectthe new current theme layout. Those skilled in the art will appreciatethat in other embodiments theme layouts associated with multipledifferent themes could be simultaneously displayed to the user forselection.

[0185] FIGS. 12A-12H provide an alternative method for the user toexplicitly provide information or instructions. In particular, theseFigures provide examples of a user interface for a user to explicitlyspecify context information about themselves, such as via a ContextChooser module. As the user makes changes to the current modeledcontext, these changes can propagate through the theme mechanism andcause changes in the current theme set, current theme, and/or currenttheme layout.

[0186]FIG. 12A illustrates a user interface with which a variety oftypes of contextual information can be inspected, configured andmodified. The user interface includes a variety of choices 1210 that theuser can select, such as choice 1 to create a new theme, choice 2 toorganize existing themes, and choice 3 to set the current theme. Otherdisplayed choices, including choices 4-9, correspond to categories ofcontextual information, and multiple tabs 1220 are also displayed thateach correspond to one of the categories. In some embodiments, users canchange the categories of contextual information that are displayedeither by selecting an appropriate one of the choices 1210 or byselecting the appropriate tab 1220.

[0187] In the illustrated embodiment, a Me choice 1215 that correspondsto information about the user has been selected, with the tab 1225correspondingly being the visible tab. As a result, a variety ofuser-related information is displayed in the right portion of the userinterface. As is shown, the user interface allows the user to specify avariety of types of information about themselves, such as the user'smood or health status using interaction controls 1235. Similarly, theuser can have one or more defined modes that may affect multiple contextattributes, user preferences, and/or computer devices. In theillustrated embodiment, the user can specify a “Solitude” mode using aninteraction control 1235. In addition, various user sense indicators1230 are indicated, such as to provide status information to the userabout senses to which the computer may currently present informationand/or to allow the user to control which input/output devices arecurrently in use. The user interface also includes controls 1237 thataffect interaction between the user and other users, such as to allowthe user to specify whether some or all of their context information isavailable to others or to view context information for another user. Inthe illustrated embodiment, after the user has finished inspectingand/or modifying context information about themselves, the user canselect a different category of contextual information, such as byhighlighting the Activity choice 1217.

[0188]FIG. 12B illustrates the user interface after the user hasselected the Activity choice to display Activity-related contextualinformation. As would be expected, the Activity-related tab 1227 is nowthe currently visible tab, and a variety of types of Activity-relatedcontextual information is displayed. In the illustrated embodiment, theuser can specify information related to a current activity, a currentmode, a current theme, and various project-specific information.

[0189]FIG. 12C illustrates the user interface displaying a variety ofcontext information related to the “People” category, as is reflected bythe selection of the People tab 1241. As is shown, in the illustratedembodiment information is presented only about people that are currentlyaround the user—those skilled in the art will appreciate, however, thatin other embodiments information about other types of people could alsobe indicated (e.g., people of particular interest, such as a spouse, orpeople of current interest, such as other people with whom the user isconversing over a remote communications mechanism). In the illustrateduser interface embodiment, the user can use interaction controls to addor remove people that are considered to be around the user, as well asto specify one or more of the listed people as a current focus of auser's attention (e.g., to be used as the topic of the Person theme if aPerson theme layout is presented).

[0190] In a similar manner, FIGS. 12D-12H provide examples of the userinterface displaying other categories of information. FIG. 12D displaysvarious location information about the user, including their currentlocation and intended destination. While not illustrated in the currentembodiment, other embodiments could include an interaction control toallow the user to specify whether to share this particular type ofcontext information (or other types of context information) with others,and if so with whom. FIG. 12E displays environment-related contextualinformation, such as information about the temperature, light, andsound. FIG. 12F displays contextual information related to objects orconceptual things that are around the user, such as computing devices.As with the previously discussed People-related contextual information,the user can specify a current focus of attention among those displayedobjects, and those skilled in the art will appreciate that in anotherembodiments information about objects other than those near the usercould also be displayed. FIG. 12G displays contextual informationrelated to the computing system itself, such as information about thebattery, I/O devices, installed software or networking mechanisms, etc.FIG. 12H provides “About” information related to the software executingthe user interface. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that avariety of other types of contextual information could similarly bedisplayed and modified via such an interface, and that a variety ofother types of user interfaces could similarly be used to display and/ormodify contextual information.

[0191]FIG. 13 provides an example of a theme data structure 1300. Thedata structure includes a variety of properties 1302 and correspondingvalues 1304. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the detailsof the illustrated data structures are for illustrative purposes only,and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention.

[0192] In the illustrative example, the theme data structure includesproperties as follows: Name, Description, Security, Permission, Privacy,Priority, Group-ID, Time-Active, Source, Theme-Content, New-Attributes,Theme-Matching, Theme-Logic, Attribute-Set, etc. In the illustrativeembodiment, a data structure for the “Driving To Work” theme is shown.The theme includes a textual description, such as for use whendisplaying the theme to the user for modification, a theme priority thatcan be used for selecting a current theme from multiple themes in thecurrent theme set, and a categorization of the theme as belonging to agroup of themes with an ID of 23. The illustrated theme also includes anindication of when the theme is active such that it is allowed to matchthe current context, with this theme active on weekdays from 6 a.m. to11 a.m. The theme also includes an indication of the source thatsupplied the theme, such as a third-party source from whom the theme waspurchased. The theme includes an indication of theme-specific contentthat is stored locally, which in the illustrated embodiment is a logo ofthe company that sold the theme. The theme also includes an indicationof new theme-specific attributes that are used as part of this theme,along with an indication of a source from whom values for the attributecan be received. In some embodiments, instructions on how to locateand/or load the theme-specific attribute or theme-specific CS could alsobe included.

[0193] The theme-matching property of the theme provides one or moresets of attributes and corresponding values to allow the system todetermine whether the theme matches the current context. In theillustrated embodiment, each attribute-value pair also includes anindication of whether that attribute-value pair is required to match thecurrent context. Theme logic is also associated with the theme datastructure, including an instruction to modify the access that is allowedto an attribute (i.e., the user.location attribute) while the theme isthe current theme and/or in the current theme set. Other theme logicincludes checking the values of standard attributes or theme-specificattributes in order to perform various types of actions. As previouslynoted, in some embodiments theme logic can also be used to determinewhether the theme matches the current context. Those skilled in the artwill appreciate that in other embodiments theme logic information (orother information) may not be directed stored in the data structure,such as the theme data structure instead including a link to one or moreexecutable programs that implement the theme logic. The theme datastructure also includes links to each of the attributes in the attributeset for the theme, with attribute data structures 1390 illustrated.

[0194] The illustrated theme data structure also includes Privacy,Security, and Permission information. In the illustrated embodiment, thePrivacy information can affect capabilities such as where data generatedwhile the theme is active is stored and who has access to it. In thismanner, work-related themes can ensure that data generated while thattheme is current will be stored in an accessible work location, andnon-work themes can ensure that generated data will remain private.Typically, individual themes share the same context modeling data store.However, groups of themes may have distinct databases. Themes that sharethe same preferred privacy indication would tend to access the samedatabase. Examples of different privacy values/schemes include thefollowing: Private, Public, Work, Family, Friends, Acquaintances, Peoplein immediate vicinity, and Everyone in my contact list. These schemesare not necessarily mutually exclusive (e.g., Family+Friends), thoughthey can be (e.g., private vs. public). They can be combined in someembodiments with Boolean or other logic. Example themes which a usermight specify as private include Driving Home, At Home, Talking on MyPersonal Mobile Phone, Receiving Medical Treatment, etc.

[0195] The illustrated theme data structure also includes Security andPermission information. In the illustrated embodiment, Permissioninformation is used to specify what types of activities different userscan engage in with respect to the theme, and Security information can bespecified to control the various types of access. In the illustratedembodiment, similar groups as those mentioned above can be used whenspecifying permission or security information. In the illustratedembodiment, access to information about the scheme (including whetherthe theme is executing or is the current theme) is available to thecurrent user, to other users that are part of the current user's Familyor Friends groups of users, and to the Source of the theme. Access bythe Source allows them to monitor usage of the theme. In Permissioninformation also specifies that only the current user can modify thetheme, and that no one is allowed to copy the theme. A variety of othertypes of permission controls could similarly be specified. In addition,controls such as access or modifiability could be limited to a subset ofthe theme in other embodiments. Similarly, various restrictions on suchaccess could be specified, such as “Show my current location toco-workers only when I am in route to the office or located within 100yards of it.”

[0196] The user does not necessarily determine some or all of the activepermission scheme. For example, an employer may distribute a theme toemployees that it does not want modifiable (e.g., a safety theme).Alternately, in other institutional applications (e.g., a hospital orthe military), the control of the content, how the context is beingmodeled, how the context information is being shared, and any othersystem controlled activity can be controlled by a remote and/orcentralized authority. Remote control does not require continuouscommunication—the theme (or a theme-specific CS) could have a “dead air”rule such that it ceases to work if the system does not receivecontinuous authorization for use. Permission information could alsoinclude information related to distribution of the theme, such as amechanism for charging a user and supplying the payment to a specifiedsource when the theme is distributed.

[0197] In the illustrated theme data structure, the theme logicindicates an ability to specify access to a context attribute, such asto provide or limit access to information to other users. Similarly,themes can also specify other types of information, such as a data storefrom which data can be retrieved or to which data can be stored. Themescan also set attribute values, such as to ensure that a privacyattribute has an appropriate value. In some situations the values willbe set only temporarily while the theme is current (or is in the currenttheme set), and will return to their previous value or to a defaultvalue when the theme is no longer current (or is not in the currenttheme set). Alternately, in other situations a theme can permanently setan attribute value such that the value remains even when the theme is nolonger current.

[0198] In addition to setting context information, themes can alsospecify other types of information, such as whether some or all of theinformation about the theme is available to other themes. In somesituations a theme may specify that even the existence of the theme orthe fact that the theme is in the current theme set or is the currenttheme is not available to other themes, although such a specificationmay also be overridden by the system if necessary (e.g., making suchinformation available to a safety theme that needs to override thedisplay to present an important message). When information about otherthemes is available, a theme (e.g., the current theme) or theme layoutcan use such information as part of the theme logic to modify thepresentation of the current theme layout. In other embodiments themescould included various functionality to allow them to interact, such asfor all of the themes in the current theme set to cooperatively selectone of the themes as the current theme rather than having this performedby a separate executable module.

[0199] While the illustrated theme indicates that it is a member of agroup, a variety of other types of group and hierarchical informationcould be specified in other embodiments. In some embodiments themes canbe specified in a hierarchical arrangement such that themes at lowerlevels of the hierarchy could inherit default attributes orfunctionality from higher-level themes. For example, a “Talking ToSpouse” theme could be specified as being a descendant or child of a“Talking To Person” theme, with the child theme including only theinformation or logic that is different than the parent theme. Inaddition to inheriting information and functionality, such hierarchicalarrangements can be used in some situations to prioritize themes.Moreover, in some situations themes and/or theme layouts could beconstructed in a hierarchical manner by using other themes or themelayouts. For example, with a theme layout such as is illustrated in FIG.11B, the theme layout may be constructed by combining other themelayouts for text map directions and traffic condition information withother information specific to the Driving To Work theme.

[0200] In addition, groups of themes can be specified in various waysand used for various purposes (e.g., as an organizational scheme whenpresenting a list of themes to a user). As previously noted, groupmembership could be used to specify various common properties, likePrivacy, Security, Permission, Priority, Time-Active, Theme-Contentand/or other properties. In this way, a user could know what otherthemes could be selected that would not change the current settings forsuch properties. Alternately, an institutional organization could usegroup membership to control access to and functionality associated withdifferent groups—for example, a retailer can maintain distinct groups ofthemes for employees, vendors, contractors, identified or anonymousshoppers.

[0201] Themes can also be categorized in various ways, and themes insome embodiments could store related categorical information. Forexample, in some embodiments themes could be categorized as “SituationalThemes” that describe the intent of the user specific to that person'sactivity (e.g., driving), “Person Themes” containing information relatedto people, “Object Themes” containing object-related information, or“Place Themes” containing place-related information. In otherembodiments, themes could be categorized into high-level categories suchas “Intent/Content,” “Ability,” “Platform,” and “Personal Preference.”Intent/Content themes could include sub-categories such as “Work,”“Chores,” “Entertainment,” etc. Each of these could include varioussub-categories. Ability themes could include sub-categories for themessuch as “Bodily Activity,” “Available Attention,” etc. An importantbenefit of modeling a user's body activity is to determine how well theycan receive or generate information. For example, if the user iswalking, the system can modify the UI such that the fine motor controlrequired for two-dimensional cursor control (e.g., with a mouse ortrackball) is not required, and could instead use UI elements thatpresent choices with one-dimensional cursor control (e.g., with a scrollwheel or voice commands). Example types of relevant activities could beWalking, Sitting With A Horizontal Work Surface, Driving, etc. Attentioncould include an indication of a user's preferred data complexity leveland their current cognitive load. Platform themes could be used toprovide information about what to do when system capability changesconfiguration. For example, if the device battery is being consumed at arate higher than can be sustained until historical battery chargingresources are available (accounting for route and rate of travel), themelogic could initiate power saving rules. Alternately, if a preferredoutput device is not available, theme logic could determine and suggestthe best alternatives. Personal Preference themes can includesub-categories related to the device UI, Privacy, Solitude, Safety,Convenience, etc. UI-related themes could provide functionality such asincreasing the audio volume when the ambient noise increases, orincreasing contrast when the ambient light increases. A Privacy themecould include detailed information that is shared with other themes. ThePrivacy theme could have an associated theme layout that would presentsettings for various privacy types, and/or it could present a summary ofprivacy (e.g., a single word like “private” or “public”) to other themesor on a displayed system status tool bar. Information that is explicitlyset in such a Privacy theme could also override a default settingcontained in a specific theme without modifying the default (so that thedefault setting could later be used if the explicit Privacy themesetting were removed). A Solitude theme could indicate not to interruptthe user unless it is an emergency. A Safety theme could begin recordingall sensors and attributes at high data rates if the system infers thatI am having a health crises (e.g., car is skidding at high speed or mypulse is erratic). The system could then indicate to the user that asafety issue has been determined, and alert emergency personnel andfamily if attempts to get acknowledgement or correction from the user isnot received. Convenience themes could provide functionality such ascollecting suggestions from family members for errands to perform beforecoming home from work. Such an errand list could be shared by otherfamily members, and an indication provided if an errand is accepted byfamily member.

[0202] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that themes can begrouped, categorized and hierarchically structured in a variety of otherways, some of which are described above.

[0203]FIG. 14 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of a ThemeServer computing device suitable for distributing themes andtheme-related information to various Theme User computing devices thatwill modify and use those and other themes. In particular, a ThemeServer computing device 1400 is illustrated that includes a CPU 1405, astorage 1420, memory 1430, and various I/O devices 1410.

[0204] The storage includes various themes and theme-related informationfor distribution to user computing devices, including multiple themes1421. Depending on the themes for distribution, the storage can alsoinclude multiple theme layouts 1422 that are each associated with one ofthe themes, various theme-specific attributes 1423 that are part of theset of thematic attributes for at least one of the themes (e.g., bybeing used in theme-matching or theme-logic), various theme CSes 1424able to generate values for one or more of the theme attributes, andvarious theme CCs 1426 able to use information from at least one of thethemes (e.g., theme attribute values) to generate appropriate responsesfor a user that is part of that theme. The storage can also optionallyinclude theme categorization or grouping information 1428, such as fordetermining associated themes that may be distributed together, and canoptionally include user or group categorization information 1429, suchas for categorizing users and groups of users in order to determine whatthemes are appropriate for those users.

[0205] Various modules are executing in the memory in order to create,distribute, and monitor the use of distributed themes and theme-relatedinformation. In particular, a Theme Creator/Modifier component 1436 isexecuting in memory so that a user can use the component to create ormodify themes and/or theme-related information, such as the themes andtheme-related information on the storage. Those skilled in the art willappreciate that the Theme Creator/Modifier component can be used tocreate themes and theme-related information in various way, such asthose discussed above or those known in the art for creating ormodifying software components, data structures or visual interfaces. Forexample, the component may provide a Graphical User Interface (“GUI”)with which the user can visually create theme-related data structures,theme layout presentation, or components in an interactive manner. Insome embodiments, the component can present various categories ofcontext information and allow the user to select information from one ormore of the categories (e.g., Me, Location, Activity/Task/Project,People (such as in immediate vicinity), Objects (such as in immediatevicinity), Environment, etc.).

[0206] A Theme Distributor component 1440 is also executing in memory todistribute themes and theme-related information to users as appropriate,such as in response to requests or automatically if a user is determinedto meet appropriate criteria. The Theme Distributor component includes aTheme Request Responder sub-component 1442, an Automated ThemeAppropriateness Determiner sub-component 1448, a Theme Sendersub-component 1446, and optionally a Payment Module sub-component 1444.The Theme Request Responder receives requests from users for themesand/or theme-related information, determines if the users are authorizedto receive the requested information, and if so notifies the ThemeSender to provide the requested information. When a theme is beingprovided, the Theme Sender will typically retrieve any othertheme-related information that is associated with the theme, such astheme layouts, theme attributes, theme CSes and/or theme CCs. After thenecessary information is gathered, the Theme Sender will provide theinformation to the user in an appropriate manner (e.g., in an encryptedform).

[0207] In some embodiments, the Theme Server may provide themes andtheme-related information as a service to users, such as by charging asubscription service or by charging on a per-theme basis. If there is afee associated with the requested information, the Theme Sender willinteract with the Payment Module to ensure that appropriate compensationhas been received before the information is provided.

[0208] The Automated Theme Appropriateness Determiner sub-component alsoprovides themes and theme-related information to users, but does so notin response to user requests but instead to determinations that a usermeets specified criteria (e.g., is a member of a specified group, is ina specified geographic location, is engaged in a specified activity,etc.). In particular, the sub-component receives notifications or othercontext information related to users, and uses the stored user/groupcategorization information and/or theme categorization information todetermine whether any of the themes or other theme-related informationshould be provided to those users. In addition, in some embodiments thesub-component could engage in an automated negotiation with a module ona user computing device to make the appropriateness determination. Whenthe Automated Theme Appropriateness Determiner determines to provideinformation to a user, it notifies the Theme Sender to provide therequested information in a similar manner to that described above. Thoseskilled in the art will appreciate that in some embodiments only one ofthe Theme Request Responder and Automated Theme AppropriatenessDeterminer may be employed as part of the Theme Distributor.

[0209] The stored user/group categorization information and themecategorization information that is used by the Automated ThemeAppropriateness Determiner can be generated in a variety of ways, suchas by being received from users or from theme sources. The informationcan also be generated and modified by a user using an Administrationmodule 1434 that is executing in memory. For example, via a GUI providedby the module, a user could specify conditions or executable logic todetermine when to provide themes to users. Those skilled in the art willappreciate that such information can be specified in a variety offormats and used in a variety of ways.

[0210] In addition to the illustrated Theme Server computing device,FIG. 14 also illustrates a Theme User computing device 1450 suitable forreceiving themes and theme-related information, as well as using theseand other themes in order to provide appropriate responses to the user(not shown) of the Theme User computing device. The Theme User computingdevice and Theme Server computing device communicate via network 1465.

[0211] The Theme User computing device includes a CPU 1455, a storage1470, memory 1480, and various I/O devices 1460, with the storageincluding various themes and theme-related information in a mannersimilar to the storage 1420 of the Theme Server computing device. Inparticular, the storage 1470 stores themes 1471, and can also includetheme layouts 1472 that are each associated with one of the themes,theme-specific attributes 1473 that are part of the set of thematicattributes for at least one of the themes, theme CSes 1474 able togenerate values for one or more of the theme attributes, theme CCs 1475able to use information from at least one of the themes to generateappropriate responses for the user, and theme categorization or groupinginformation 1477 that identifies relationships among the themes.

[0212] The memory 1480 similarly includes a group of executing ThemeUsage components 1485 that can use the various theme information in amanner similar to those of the Thematic Response computing devicepreviously described. For example, the memory includes an executingTheme Modeler component 1487 that repeatedly identifies a current themeset having defined themes that match the current context, selects acurrent theme, and then selects an appropriate type of response (e.g.,an associated theme layout for presentation or other appropriateactions) based on the current theme. When the Theme Modeler selects anappropriate type of response for a current theme, the Theme Modelercomponent notifies the executing Theme Response Generator component 1488that provides the appropriate response (e.g., by presenting anappropriate theme layout). Rather than having the Theme Modelercomponent select the current theme in an automated fashion, the user canalternately explicitly specify the current theme using the executingTheme Chooser component 1486 or specify various context informationusing the executing Context Chooser component 1482. Those skilled in theart will appreciate that execution and use of the various themes canalso include the loading and/or execution of various theme-relatedinformation such as theme attributes, theme CSes, and/or theme CCs.

[0213] In addition to the Theme Usage components, the memory 1480 alsoincludes various executing Theme Administration components 1490. Usingthese components, a user can create, modify, categorize, and retrievethemes and theme-related information. In addition, in some embodimentsTheme Administration components such as the Theme Receiver component1495 will automatically receive theme information (e.g., from theAutomated Theme Appropriateness Determiner component 1448 via the ThemeSender component 1446) and/or distribute theme information to otherdevices using a Theme Distributor component 1497 that operates in asimilar manner to Theme Distributor 1440. The Theme Administrationcomponents also include a Theme Creator/Modifier component 1491 withwhich the user can create or modify themes and/or theme relatedinformation in a similar manner to that of Theme Creator/Modifiercomponent 1436. For example, the user can use the component 1491 toexplicitly customize themes or theme-related information received fromthe Theme Server. The memory also includes a Theme Categorizer component1492 with which a user can specify theme relationship information (e.g.,group, category or hierarchy information), such as theme categorizationinformation 1477, for various themes (e.g., themes created by the user).In the illustrated embodiment, a user can also search for and generaterequests for themes and theme-related information of interest using theTheme Retriever component 1494. Those skilled in the art will appreciatethat the Theme Receiver and Theme Retriever can in some embodimentsemploy functionality to provide appropriate access information and/orpayment for received information. In addition, those skilled in the artwill appreciate that in some embodiments only one of the Theme Retrieverand Theme Receiver components may be employed as part of the ThemeAdministration modules.

[0214] The memory also optionally includes an executing Automated ThemeCustomizer component 1484. In the illustrated embodiment, this componentemploys learning techniques to monitor user actions, detect patterns ofuse related to the various themes, and automatically customize (orsuggest customizations to) received and/or created themes. Those skilledin the art will appreciate that such patterns can be detected in variousmanners (e.g., by using neural networks, expert systems, geneticalgorithms, probabilistic belief networks, etc.), and that a variety oftypes of customizations can occur (e.g., to any of the theme propertiesand/or to theme response information such as theme layouts).

[0215] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that computing devices1400 and 1450 are merely illustrative and are not intended to limit thescope of the present invention. The computing devices may be connectedto other devices that are not illustrated, including through one or morenetworks such as the Internet or via the World Wide Web (WWW). Inaddition, the functionality provided by the illustrated components mayin some embodiments be combined in fewer components or distributed inadditional components. Similarly, in some embodiments the functionalityof some of the illustrated components may not be provided and/or otheradditional functionality may be available. Those skilled in the art willalso appreciate that, while various components and the context model areillustrated as being stored in memory while being used, these items orportions of them can be transferred between memory and other storagedevices for purposes of memory management and data integrity. Similarly,data illustrated as being present on storage while being used caninstead be present in memory and transferred between storage and memory.Some or all of the components or data structures may also be stored(e.g., as instructions or structured data) on a computer-readablemedium, such as a hard disk, a memory, a network, or a portable articleto be read by an appropriate drive. The components and data structurescan also be transmitted as generated data signals (e.g., as part of acarrier wave) on a variety of computer-readable transmission mediums,including wireless-based and wired/cable-based mediums.

[0216] Themes and theme-related information can be distributed in avariety of ways and for a variety of purposes. In some embodimentsthemes are modeled using object data structures, with such themes beingeasily distributable. In addition, themes can be distributed by themeservers and/or on a peer-to-peer basis by user computing devices thatcreate and use themes. Themes can also be distributed to various groups,such as by an employer to some or all employees or by a service provider(e.g., of an entertainment experience) to users of the service. Themescan also be distributed to users within a specified geographic location,such as by a store owner to customers that enter the store or by a themeserver at a tourist location. For example, a retailer can maintaindistinct themes for employees, vendors, contractors, identified oranonymous shoppers. A shopper's wireless computing system could, uponentering the store, begin a dialog where the user's preference forprivacy is determined. It may indicate that the shopper is interested inknowing what is on sale, and they are willing to share their personalproduct preferences, but decline to identify themselves except by apermanent but arbitrary ID that is assigned by the store. Their systemcan then receive and run a theme that, though it may or may not changethe UI presentation or interaction, would deliver relevant data to thesystem (or to the retailer).

[0217] The distribution and use of themes can also support variousbusinesses. For example, some businesses may provide themes andtheme-related information as a service, such as on a subscription ofpay-per-theme basis. Themes that provide currently relevant informationof various types could be distributed, such as local map information orinformation about nearby businesses (e.g., restaurants or bookstores) ofvarious types. Other businesses can provide services by acting as aclearinghouse or exchange broker for themes, while other businessescould provide search services to locate and provide themes of interest.A user could subscribe to a Theme-Of-The-Month Club (or other timeperiod) in which popular themes are periodically distributed, or abusiness could provide a “bestsellers” list for themes of various types.As noted above, the distribution and use of themes has applications inthe industrial (e.g., for training, to enhance the safety andproductivity of employees, etc.), retail (e.g., for companies tocommunicate with customers, suppliers, and partners, such as to enhancesales and obtain tracking information), and consumer markets (e.g., toprovide enhanced entertainment and productivity tools). In addition,themes can be used on a variety of computing devices, such as wearablecomputers, PDAs, desktop or laptop computers, wireless phones, etc.Themes can also be used to provide new applications, or toenhance/modify the functionality available from existing applications(e.g., a calendar/schedule application).

[0218]FIG. 15 is a flow diagram of an embodiment of the Theme Usageroutine 1500. The routine determines a current theme set and currenttheme and provides an appropriate response based on the current theme,as is illustrated and is described in greater detail above.

[0219]FIG. 16 is a flow diagram of an embodiment of the ResponseGenerator subroutine 1540. The subroutine generates an appropriateresponse to a current theme, as is illustrated and is described ingreater detail above.

[0220]FIG. 17 is a flow diagram of an embodiment of the ThemeCreator/Modifier routine 1700. The routine allows a user to createand/or modify themes and theme-related information, as is illustratedand is described in greater detail above.

[0221]FIG. 18 is a flow diagram of an embodiment of the ThemeDistributor routine 1800. The routine distributes themes to users eitherin response to requests or as is automatically determined to beappropriate, as is illustrated and is described in greater detail above.

[0222]FIG. 19 is a flow diagram of an embodiment of the Theme Receiverroutine 1900. The routine receives themes from a theme provider eitherin response to a request or when the theme provider sends the theme inan unsolicited manner, as is illustrated and is described in greaterdetail above. FIG. 20 is a flow diagram of an embodiment of theAutomated Theme Customizer routine 2000. The routine determines how tocustomize themes in an automated manner based on previous user actionsand customize the themes as determined when appropriate, as isillustrated and is described in greater detail above.

[0223] A variety of example themes and example uses for themes have beendiscussed. Other examples include the following: a Driving theme thatautomatically tunes the car radio to a favorite news radio station, orto a news station in the morning and a music station in the evening, orcoordinates with context information for car passengers so that aselected radio station is acceptable on everyone; a Fuel Station themethat provides a list of stations that the vehicle can reach (e.g.,prioritized by closest or by cost) and that matches the current contextwith the level of gas in the tank reaches a specified level; a SpeechReminders theme that allows a computing device to act as aself-improvement tool by listening for selected phrases or sounds (e.g.,“umm,” “probly” instead of “probably,” “Feberary” instead of “February,”etc.) or for speech at sound levels below or above thresholds (e.g., todetect shouting inside), and unobtrusively notifies the user inreal-time when detected (e.g., with a beep in an earpiece speaker); aPersonality Improvement theme that could use psychological profileinformation about the user (e.g., from the Meyers-Briggs test) to assistthe user in adapting their personality in a desired way (e.g., ifsomeone is a strong extrovert and has been spending too much time withnon-family activities they could be coached to give more prominence tothe family, or if the user is a timid person the system can coach theuser during a conversation to assert their opinion)—such a theme or arelated theme could even automatically gather personality informationabout the user by monitoring the behavior of the user and suggestingthat the user could improve in certain ways; a Person theme thatprovides information about a specific topic user's affiliation, aprevious encounter with the person including the time/date/location andwhat they discussed, various personal information; etc.; an Object themethat provides information about a specific topic object's owner,location, type/category, tag, etc.; a Place or Location theme thatprovides information about a location's activities/categories,temperature, people currently there, when the user was last there, etc;a Talking About A Topic theme; a Watching TV theme that providesfunctionality to control the remote and displays current or futureshows; a Watching NBA Basketball game that provides information aboutthe teams and provides functionality to order NBA or team paraphernalia;etc.

[0224] The above description of the illustrated embodiments is notintended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise formdisclosed. While specific embodiments of, and examples for, theinvention are described for illustrative purposes, various equivalentmodifications are possible within the scope of the invention, as thoseskilled in the relevant art will recognize. In addition, the variousembodiments described above can be combined to provide furtherembodiments. All of the above mentioned U.S. patents and applicationsare hereby incorporated by reference. Aspects of the invention can bemodified, if necessary, to employ the systems, methods and concepts ofthe various patents and applications described above to provide yetfurther embodiments of the invention.

[0225] Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that in someembodiments the functionality provided by the routines discussed abovemay be provided in alternate ways, such as being split among moreroutines or consolidated into less routines. Similarly, in someembodiments illustrated routines may provide more or less functionalitythan is described, such as when other illustrated routines instead lackor include such functionality respectively, or when the amount offunctionality that is provided is altered. Those skilled in the art willalso appreciate that the data structures discussed above may bestructured in different manners, such as by having a single datastructure split into multiple data structures or by having multiple datastructures consolidated into a single data structure. Similarly, in someembodiments illustrated data structures may store more or lessinformation than is described, such as when other illustrated datastructures instead lack or include such information respectively, orwhen the amount or types of information that is stored is altered.

[0226] From the foregoing it will be appreciated that, although specificembodiments have been described herein for purposes of illustration,various modifications may be made without deviating from the spirit andscope of the invention. Accordingly, the invention is not limited exceptas by the appended claims. In addition, while certain aspects of theinvention are presented below in certain claim forms, the inventorscontemplate the various aspects of the invention in any available claimform. For example, while only one some aspects of the invention maycurrently be recited as being embodied in a computer-readable medium,other aspects may likewise be so embodied. Accordingly, the inventorsreserve the right to add additional claims after filing the applicationto pursue such additional claim forms for other aspects of theinvention.

We claim:
 1. A method in a wearable computing device for presentinginformation to a user of the wearable computing device based on at leastone of multiple defined themes, a current context of the user beingrepresented by a plurality of context attributes that each model anaspect of the context, each of the defined themes modeling a distinctcontextual situation of the user that has multiple contextual aspects byspecifying multiple context attributes and by specifying one or morepossible values associated with each of the specified contextattributes, each defined theme having at least one associated themelayout that specifies information appropriate to the contextualsituation of the theme and that specifies a manner of presenting thespecified information to the user, comprising: receiving an indicationof the multiple defined themes; receiving an indication of currentcontext information about the user that includes current values for eachof the plurality of context attributes; determining for each of themultiple defined themes whether the user is in the contextual situationmodeled by the defined theme such that each of the context attributesspecified for the defined theme has a current value indicated in thereceived current context information that matches one of the specifiedpossible values associated with that context attribute; selecting acurrent theme from among multiple defined themes that are determined tohave modeled contextual situations which the user is in, the currenttheme selected to have a highest associated priority among those definedthemes; selecting one of the theme layouts associated with the selectedcurrent theme; and presenting information to the user that isappropriate to the selected current theme by gathering the informationspecified by the selected theme layout and presenting the gatheredinformation in the manner specified by the selected theme layout, sothat the user receives information that is appropriate to a contextualsituation in which the user is situated.
 2. The method of claim 1including, after the presenting of the information to the user that isappropriate to the selected current theme: receiving an indication ofchanges to the current context information; and in response to theindicated changes, selecting a new current theme that models a newcontextual situation that the user is in due to the changed contextinformation, the new current theme such that each of the contextattributes specified for the theme has a current value indicated in thechanged context information that matches one of the specified possiblevalues associated with that context attribute; selecting a new themelayout that is associated with the new current theme; and presentinginformation to the user that is appropriate to the new current theme bygathering the information specified by the new theme layout andpresenting the gathered information in the manner specified by the newtheme layout.
 3. The method of claim 1 including, after the presentingof the information to the user that is appropriate to the selectedcurrent theme: receiving an indication of an instruction from the userto change the presented information in a specified manner; and inresponse to the indicated instruction, selecting a new theme layout thatspecifies a manner of presenting information that is consistent with thespecified manner indicated by the user; and presenting information tothe user by gathering the information specified by the new theme layoutand presenting the gathered information in the manner specified by thenew theme layout.
 4. The method of claim 3 wherein the specified mannerindicated by the user includes an indication to select a specified themeas a new current theme, and wherein the new theme layout that isselected is associated with the new current theme.
 5. The method ofclaim 1 wherein the selected theme layout additionally specifiesinteraction controls to be presented to the user to providefunctionality that is appropriate to the contextual situation modeled byselected current theme, and wherein the presenting of the information tothe user includes presenting the specified interaction controls.
 6. Themethod of claim 1 including, before the receiving of the indication ofthe multiple defined themes: receiving an indication from the user todefine a new theme; receiving indications from the user that specifymultiple context attributes for the new theme; receiving indicationsfrom the user that specify one or more possible values associated witheach of the specified context attributes; and storing the new themealong with indications of the specified multiple context attributes andthe specified one or more possible values associated with each of thespecified context attributes, and wherein the stored new theme is one ofthe indicated multiple defined themes.
 7. The method of claim 1including distributing one of the multiple defined themes to a computingdevice of another user for use in presenting information that isappropriate to the contextual situation modeled by the one defined themeto the other user.
 8. The method of claim 7 including, before thedistributing of the one defined theme to the computing device of theother user, receiving payment for the one defined theme from the otheruser or from the computing device of the other user.
 9. The method ofclaim 7 wherein the use of the one defined theme by the computing deviceof the other user includes determining whether the other user is in thecontextual situation modeled by the one defined theme such that each ofthe context attributes specified for the one defined theme has a currentvalue indicated in current context information for the other user thatmatches one of the specified possible values associated with thatcontext attribute.
 10. The method of claim 7 wherein the distributing ofthe one defined theme includes distributing the theme layouts associatedwith the one defined theme.
 11. The method of claim 10 wherein thepresenting to the other user of the information that is appropriate tothe contextual situation modeled by the one defined theme includes usingone of the distributed theme layouts, and wherein the one distributedtheme layout that is used for the presenting specifies the informationto be presented in a manner relative to a user of the computing deviceusing the one distributed theme layout, so that the informationpresented to the other user includes information specific to the otheruser.
 12. The method of claim 7 wherein the distributing of the onedefined theme includes distributing other information related to thetheme that includes a context attribute that is specified by the onedefined theme, a context server module able to provide values for one ormore context attributes specified by the one defined theme and/or acontext client module capable of receiving information related to theone defined theme and of producing responses appropriate to thecontextual situation modeled by the one defined theme.
 13. The method ofclaim 1 including receiving a theme from another computing device beforethe receiving of the indication of the multiple defined themes, andwherein the received theme is one of the indicated multiple definedthemes.
 14. The method of claim 13 including, before the receiving ofthe theme, providing access information indicating authority to receivethe theme.
 15. The method of claim 13 including customizing the receivedtheme based on explicit indications received from the user.
 16. Themethod of claim 13 including customizing the received theme based onlikely user preferences determined without intervention by the user. 17.The method of claim 1 including monitoring the user or a surroundingenvironment of the user in order to produce the current contextinformation.
 18. The method of claim 1 wherein the contextual situationsmodeled by the multiple defined themes relate to activities of the user.19. The method of claim 1 wherein for each of the defined themes that isdetermined to have a modeled contextual situation which the user is in,the priority associated with that theme is based on a calculated degreeof match between the current values indicated in the received currentcontext information and the specified possible values associated withthe context attributes for that theme.
 20. The method of claim 1 whereinfor each of the defined themes that is determined to have a modeledcontextual situation which the user is in, the priority associated withthat theme is based on a degree of interest of the user for thecontextual situation modeled by that theme.
 21. The method of claim 1wherein for each of the defined themes that is determined to have amodeled contextual situation which the user is in, the priorityassociated with that theme is based on a degree of importance of thecontextual situation modeled by that theme.
 22. A method in a computingdevice for providing an appropriate response to a contextual situationbased on at least one of multiple themes, a context being represented bya plurality of context attributes and their associated values, each ofthe themes representing a contextual situation by specifying multiplecontext attributes related to the contextual situation and by specifyingcriteria for determining values of the specified context attributes thatmatch the contextual situation, each of the themes associated with atleast one type of response that is appropriate to the contextualsituation, the method comprising: receiving an indication of a contextthat includes values for at least some of the plurality of contextattributes; identifying one of the multiple themes that matches theindicated context by using the specified criteria for the theme todetermine that the included values of the indicated context containvalues of the specified context attributes for the theme that match thecontextual situation for the theme; selecting one of the types ofresponses that are associated with the identified theme; and providingthe selected type of response.
 23. The method of claim 22 wherein theselected type of response for the identified theme includes presentinginformation to a user of the computing device that is appropriate to thecontextual situation for the identified theme.
 24. The method of claim22 wherein the selected type of response for the identified themeincludes providing functionality to a user of the computing device thatis appropriate to the contextual situation for the identified theme. 25.The method of claim 22 wherein the selected type of response for theidentified theme includes presenting interaction controls to a user ofthe computing device that are appropriate to the contextual situationfor the identified theme.
 26. The method of claim 22 wherein theindicated context is a current context of the computing device and/or ofa user of the computing device.
 27. The method of claim 22 including,after the providing of the selected type of response: receiving anindication of changes to the indicated context that include changedvalues of at least some of the plurality of context attributes; and inresponse to the indicated changes, identifying a new theme that matchesthe changed context by using the specified criteria for the new theme todetermine that the changed context includes values of the specifiedcontext attributes for the new theme that match the contextual situationfor the new theme; selecting a new one of the types of responses thatare associated with the new theme; and providing the selected new typeof response.
 28. The method of claim 27 wherein the indicated changes tothe context are based on explicit instructions from a user of thecomputing device to make the indicated changes.
 29. The method of claim27 wherein the indicated changes to the context are based on changes ina surrounding environment.
 30. The method of claim 22 including, afterthe providing of the selected type of response: receiving an indicationfrom a user to change the provided type of response in a specifiedmanner; and in response to the indication, selecting a new type ofresponse that is consistent with the specified manner indicated by theuser; and providing the selected new type of response.
 31. The method ofclaim 30 wherein the specified manner indicated by the user includes anindication to select a specified theme as a new current theme, andwherein the new type of response that is selected is associated with thenew current theme.
 32. The method of claim 22 wherein multiple themesare determined to match the indicated context, and wherein theidentified theme is selected from among the multiple determined themes.33. The method of claim 32 wherein each of the multiple determinedthemes have an associated priority, and wherein the selection of theidentified theme is based on the priority of the identified theme. 34.The method of claim 33 wherein the priority associated with each of themultiple determined themes is based on a calculated degree of match tothe indicated context.
 35. The method of claim 33 wherein the priorityassociated with each of the multiple determined themes is based on acategory of the theme.
 36. The method of claim 33 wherein the priorityassociated with each of the multiple determined themes is based on agroup of which the theme is a member.
 37. The method of claim 33 whereinthe priority associated with each of the multiple determined themes isbased on a hierarchical relationship of that theme to other themes. 38.The method of claim 33 wherein the priority associated with each of themultiple determined themes is based on a degree of attention with whicha user of the computing device is focused on the contextual situationrepresented by that theme.
 39. The method of claim 33 wherein thepriority associated with each of the multiple determined themes is basedon a degree of interest of a user of the computing device in thecontextual situation represented by that theme.
 40. The method of claim33 wherein the priority associated with each of the multiple determinedthemes is based on a degree of importance of the contextual situationrepresented by that theme.
 41. The method of claim 33 wherein thepriority associated with each of the multiple determined themes is basedon a degree of urgency of the contextual situation represented by thattheme.
 42. The method of claim 22 including, before the identifying ofthe theme: receiving an indication from a user to define a new themerepresenting a contextual situation; receiving indications from the userthat specify multiple context attributes for the new theme that arerelated to the contextual situation; receiving indications from the userthat specify criteria for determining values of the specified contextattributes that match the contextual situation; and storing the newtheme along with indications of the specified multiple contextattributes and the specified criteria, and wherein the identified themeis the new theme.
 43. The method of claim 42 including: receivingindications from the user to define a theme layout to be associated withthe new theme, the defined theme layout representing presentinginformation to the user as a type of response that is appropriate to thecontextual situation represented by the new theme, the defined themelayout including specifications of indicated information and anindicated manner of presenting the indicated information; and definingthe theme layout in response to the received indications.
 44. The methodof claim 42 wherein at least one of the specified context attributes forthe new theme is a new context attribute, and including: receivingindications from the user to define the new context attribute; anddefining the new context attribute in response to the receivedindications.
 45. The method of claim 44 including receiving indicationsfrom the user to generate a new context server module capable ofgenerating values for the new context attribute, and generating the newcontext server module in response to the received indications.
 46. Themethod of claim 42 including receiving indications from the user togenerate a new context client module capable of receiving informationrelated to the new theme and of producing responses appropriate to thecontextual situation represented by the new theme, and generating thenew context client module in response to the received indications. 47.The method of claim 22 including distributing one of the multiple themesto an other computing device for use in providing appropriate responseswith the other computing device to the contextual situation representedby the one theme.
 48. The method of claim 47 wherein the distributing isin response to a received request from a user of the other computingdevice.
 49. The method of claim 47 wherein the distributing is inresponse to a received request generated automatically by the othercomputing device.
 50. The method of claim 47 including, before thedistributing of the one theme to the other computing device, determiningthat the one theme is appropriate for the other computing device, andwherein the distributing is in response to the determining.
 51. Themethod of claim 50 wherein the determining that the one theme isappropriate for the other computing device is based on a determinationthat the one theme is appropriate for a user of the other computingdevice.
 52. The method of claim 47 including, before the distributing ofthe one theme to the other computing device, receiving payment for theone defined theme.
 53. The method of claim 47 including, before thedistributing of the one theme to the other computing device, receivingaccess information indicating authority of the other computing device toreceive the one theme.
 54. The method of claim 53 wherein the indicatedauthority is based on a user of the other computing device.
 55. Themethod of claim 47 wherein use of the one theme by the other computingdevice includes determining whether the one theme matches a context ofthe other computing device by using the specified criteria for the themeto determine that the context of the other computing device containsvalues of the specified context attributes for the one theme that matchthe contextual situation for the theme.
 56. The method of claim 47wherein use of the one theme by the other computing device includesdetermining whether the one theme matches the indicated context by usingthe specified criteria for the theme to determine that the includedvalues of the indicated context contain values of the specified contextattributes for the theme that match the contextual situation for thetheme.
 57. The method of claim 47 wherein the distributing of the onetheme includes distributing a theme layout associated with the onetheme.
 58. The method of claim 57 wherein the distributed theme layoutspecifies information to be presented in a manner relative to a user ofa computing device that is using the distributed theme layout such thatuse of the distributed theme layout to present information to an otheruser of the other computing device presents information specific to theother user.
 59. The method of claim 57 wherein the distributed themelayout specifies information to be presented in a manner independent ofa computing device that is using the distributed theme layout such thatuse of the distributed theme layout to present information to an otheruser of the other computing device presents the same information aswould use of the distributed theme layout to present information to auser of the computing device.
 60. The method of claim 47 wherein thedistributing of the one theme includes distributing other informationrelated to the one theme, the other related information including acontext attribute that is specified by the one theme, a context servermodule able to provide values for one or more context attributesspecified by the one theme and/or a context client module capable ofreceiving information related to the one theme and of producingresponses appropriate to the contextual situation represented by the onetheme.
 61. The method of claim 22 including receiving a theme fromanother computing device before the identifying of the theme, andwherein the received theme is the identified theme.
 62. The method ofclaim 61 wherein the receiving of the theme is in response to a requestfrom a user of the computing device.
 63. The method of claim 61 whereinthe receiving of the theme is in response to a request generatedautomatically by the computing device.
 64. The method of claim 61including providing payment for the received theme.
 65. The method ofclaim 61 including providing access information indicating authority toreceive the theme.
 66. The method of claim 61 including customizing thereceived theme based on explicit indications received from a user of thecomputing device.
 67. The method of claim 61 including customizing thereceived theme based on likely user preferences of a user of thecomputing device that are determined without intervention by the user.68. The method of claim 67 including, after the determining of thelikely user preferences and before the customizing of the receivedtheme, receiving explicit user approval of the customizing.
 69. Themethod of claim 22 including monitoring a user of the computing deviceor a surrounding environment of the user in order to produce theincluded values for the context.
 70. The method of claim 22 wherein themultiple themes are associated with a user of the computing device. 71.The method of claim 22 wherein the multiple themes are loaded onto thecomputing device.
 72. The method of claim 22 wherein the multiple themesare themes accessible to the computing device.
 73. The method of claim22 wherein the contextual situations represented by the multiple themesare activities of a user of the computing device.
 74. The method ofclaim 22 wherein the contextual situations represented by the multiplethemes are interactions based on a current focus of attention of a userof the computing device on a person or an object.
 75. The method ofclaim 22 wherein the contextual situations represented by the multiplethemes are interactions of a user of the computing device that arerelated to a location.
 76. The method of claim 22 wherein the specifiedcriteria for the identified theme indicates possible values for each ofthe specified context attributes.
 77. The method of claim 76 wherein thespecified criteria for the identified theme further indicates that someof the specified context attributes are required to have one of thepossible values specified for that context attribute in a currentcontext if the identified theme is to match the contextual situation forthe identified theme.
 78. The method of claim 22 wherein at least one ofthe specified context attributes for the identified theme representsinformation about a user of the computing device.
 79. The method ofclaim 78 wherein the represented information reflects a modeled mentalstate of the user.
 80. The method of claim 22 wherein at least one ofthe specified context attributes for the identified theme representsinformation about the computing device.
 81. The method of claim 22wherein at least one of the specified context attributes for theidentified theme represents information about a physical environment.82. The method of claim 22 wherein at least one of the specified contextattributes for the identified theme represents information about acyber-environment of a user of the computing device.
 83. The method ofclaim 22 wherein the identified theme further includes specified logicthat can perform appropriate functionality when the identified themematches a current context.
 84. The method of claim 22 wherein thecomputing device performs the method on behalf of a user of a thinclient computing device.
 85. The method of claim 84 wherein theproviding of the selected type of response includes sending informationto the thin computing device.
 86. The method of claim 84 wherein theindicated context is a current context of the user.
 87. The method ofclaim 22 wherein a second of the multiple themes also matches theindicated context, and including providing a second type of responsethat is associated with the second theme.
 88. The method of claim 87wherein the second type of response is provided after the providing ofthe selected type of response and is provided in a manner so as tosupercede the selected type of response.
 89. The method of claim 22wherein the identified theme further includes permission informationthat specifies types of access to the identified theme that are allowed.90. The method of claim 22 wherein the identified theme further includessecurity information that specifies access information needed to obtainaccess to the identified theme.
 91. The method of claim 22 wherein theidentified theme further includes a privacy setting that specifies alevel of privacy for the identified theme.
 92. The method of claim 91wherein the privacy setting temporarily overrides other privacy settingswhile the identified theme matches a current context.
 93. The method ofclaim 91 wherein the privacy setting determines a data store that isused by the computing device while the identified theme matches acurrent context.
 94. The method of claim 22 wherein the identified themefurther includes a theme-sharing setting that specifies whetherinformation about the identified theme is to be made available to otherthemes.
 95. The method of claim 94 wherein the theme-sharing settingspecifies that the existence of and all other information related to theidentified theme is not to be made available to other themes.
 96. Themethod of claim 22 including distributing one of the multiple themes toan other computing device, and monitoring use of the one theme by theother computing device.
 97. A computing device for providing anappropriate response to a contextual situation based on at least one ofmultiple themes, a context being represented by a plurality of contextattributes and their associated values, each of the themes representinga contextual situation by specifying multiple context attributes relatedto the contextual situation and by specifying criteria for determiningvalues of the specified context attributes that match the contextualsituation, each of the themes associated with at least one type ofresponse that is appropriate to the contextual situation, comprising: acontext component capable of receiving an indication of a context thatincludes values for at least some of the plurality of contextattributes; a theme identification component capable of identifying oneof the multiple themes that matches the indicated context by using thespecified criteria for the theme to determine that the included valuesof the indicated context contain values of the specified contextattributes for the theme that match the contextual situation for thetheme; and a thematic response generator component capable of selectingone of the types of responses that are associated with the identifiedtheme and of providing the selected type of response.
 98. The computingdevice of claim 97 wherein the context component, theme identificationcomponent, and thematic response generator component are executing inmemory of the computing device.
 99. The computing device of claim 97wherein the computing device is a wearable computer.
 100. A computersystem for providing an appropriate response to a contextual situationbased on at least one of multiple themes, a context being represented bya plurality of context attributes and their associated values, each ofthe themes representing a contextual situation by specifying multiplecontext attributes related to the contextual situation and by specifyingcriteria for determining values of the specified context attributes thatmatch the contextual situation, each of the themes associated with atleast one type of response that is appropriate to the contextualsituation, comprising: means for receiving an indication of a contextthat includes values for at least some of the plurality of contextattributes; means for identifying one of the multiple themes thatmatches the indicated context by using the specified criteria for thetheme to determine that the included values of the indicated contextcontain values of the specified context attributes for the theme thatmatch the contextual situation for the theme; and means for selectingone of the types of responses that are associated with the identifiedtheme and for providing the selected type of response.
 101. Acomputer-readable medium whose contents cause a computing device toprovide an appropriate response to a contextual situation based on atleast one of multiple themes, a context being represented by a pluralityof context attributes and their associated values, each of the themesrepresenting a contextual situation by specifying multiple contextattributes related to the contextual situation and by specifyingcriteria for determining values of the specified context attributes thatmatch the contextual situation, each of the themes associated with atleast one type of response that is appropriate to the contextualsituation, by: receiving an indication of a context that includes valuesfor at least some of the plurality of context attributes; identifyingone of the multiple themes that matches the indicated context by usingthe specified criteria for the theme to determine that the includedvalues of the indicated context contain values of the specified contextattributes for the theme that match the contextual situation for thetheme; selecting one of the types of responses that are associated withthe identified theme; and providing the selected type of response. 102.The computer-readable medium of claim 101 wherein the computer-readablemedium is a data transmission medium transmitting a generated datasignal containing the contents.
 103. The computer-readable medium ofclaim 101 wherein the computer-readable medium is a memory of a computersystem.
 104. A computer-readable medium containing a theme datastructure for use in providing an appropriate response to a contextualsituation, the theme data structure representing a contextual situation,the theme data structure comprising: multiple context attributes relatedto the represented contextual situation; and criteria for determiningvalues of the specified context attributes that match the contextualsituation.
 105. The computer-readable medium of claim 104 wherein thetheme data structure further comprises an indication of at least onetype of response that is appropriate to the contextual situation. 106.The computer-readable medium of claim 104 wherein the theme datastructure further comprises an indication of a theme layout thatspecifies information appropriate to the contextual situation and thatspecifies a manner of presenting the specified information.
 107. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 104 wherein the specified criteriaincludes specifications of one or more possible values associated witheach of the specified context attributes.
 108. A computer-readablegenerated data signal transmitted via a transmission medium, thegenerated data signal having encoded contents that include a theme datastructure for use in providing an appropriate response to a contextualsituation, the theme data structure representing a contextual situationand comprising: multiple context attributes related to the representedcontextual situation; and criteria for determining values of thespecified context attributes that match the contextual situation.
 109. Acomputer-implemented method for use on a wearable computer having aplurality of input devices worn by the user, the method comprising:under control of first and second attribute providing modules, receivingrespective first and second data signals from at least two of theplurality of input devices worn by the user; under control of the firstand second attribute providing modules, generating first and secondattribute values in response to the first and second data signals,respectively, wherein the first and second attribute values each reflecta state of the user, a state of the user's physical surroundings, or astate of the user's logical data and telecommunications environment, andwherein the first and second attribute values together represent athematic data set characterizing the user's context; under control of anattribute exchange module, receiving the first and second attributevalues from the first and second attribute providing modules,respectively; under control of the attribute exchange module, storingthe first and second attribute values; under control of at least oneattribute processing module, receiving the first and second attributevalues; and under control of at least one attribute processing module,providing an output signal in response to the first and second attributevalues, wherein the output signal models a characteristic of a currentstate of the user, and wherein the modeled characteristic of the user'scurrent state cannot be directly measured from the first and secondattribute values.
 110. The method of claim 109 wherein the first andsecond attribute values each include an attribute name associated withthe attribute value, an uncertainty quantity representing a range oflikely values around the attribute value, a timestamp representing aneffective age of the attribute value, and a units for the attributevalue, wherein providing first and second attribute values includesexecuting first and second attribute providing modules, each having anassociated name, that create and provide the respective first and secondattribute values, and wherein providing an output signal includesexecuting an attribute processing module that requests, by attributename, and processes the first and second attribute values.
 111. Themethod of claim 109 wherein the first and second attribute valuesrespectively represent feelings and behavior parameters, physiologicalparameters, place parameters, language parameters, human society andinstitutional parameters, occupational parameters, or entertainmentparameters of the user, and wherein the thematic data set characterizes,and the output signal models, the user's mood, health, location,communication, society/institution, occupational, or entertainmentcontext.
 112. The method of claim 109 wherein the thematic data setcharacterizes for the user a context representing work, entertainment,errands, health, safety, home, family, location, routing, or specializedenvironments including underwater, space, flight, military and lawenforcement environments.
 113. The method of claim 109 , furthercomprising: receiving third and fourth data signals from another two ofthe plurality of input devices; providing third and fourth attributevalues in response to the third and fourth data signals that eachreflect a state of the user, a state of the user's physicalsurroundings, or a state of the user's logical data andtelecommunications environment, wherein the third and fourth attributevalues together represent another thematic data set characterizing theuser's context; receiving the third and fourth attribute values; andindependently of providing the output signal, providing another outputsignal in response to the third and fourth attribute values, wherein theanother output signal models another characteristic of a current stateof the user, and wherein the another modeled characteristic of theuser's current state cannot be directly measured from the third andfourth attribute values.
 114. A computer-readable medium containinginstructions that when executed cause a portable computing device havinga plurality of input devices to perform the method comprising: receivingfirst, second, third and fourth data signals from at least some of theplurality of input devices; providing first and second attribute valuesin response to the first and second data signals, wherein the first andsecond attribute values each reflect a state of the user, a state of theuser's physical surroundings, or a state of the user's logical data andtelecommunications environment, wherein the first and second attributevalues together represent a first thematic data set characterizing theuser's context; providing third and fourth attribute values in responseto the first and second data signals, wherein the third and fourthattribute values each reflect a state of the user, a state of the user'sphysical surroundings, or a state of the user's logical data andtelecommunications environment, wherein the third and fourth attributevalues together represent a second thematic data set, different from thefirst thematic data set, that characterizing the user's context;receiving the first thematic data set by a first client process; andprocessing the first thematic data set in the first client process andproviding a first output signal in response thereto, wherein theprocessing of the first thematic data set and providing of the firstoutput signal by the first client process is independent of the secondthematic data set.
 115. The computer-readable medium of claim 114wherein the first, second, third and fourth attribute values eachinclude an attribute name associated with the attribute value and atimestamp representing an effective age of the attribute value, andwherein the method further comprises: receiving the second thematic dataset and first attribute value by a second client process; and processingthe second thematic data set and first attribute value by the secondclient process and providing a second output signal in response thereto,wherein the processing of the second thematic data set first attributevalue and providing of the second output signal by the second clientprocess is independent of the first client process, and wherein firstand second output signals model first and second characteristics of acurrent state of the user, and wherein the first and second modeledcharacteristics of the user's current state cannot be directly measuredfrom the first and second thematic data sets.
 116. Acomputer-implemented method for providing an appropriate response to atleast one of multiple themes, each of the themes representing acontextual situation and each associated with at least one type ofresponse that is appropriate to the represented contextual situation ofthat theme, the method comprising: receiving an indication of a currenttheme; selecting one of the types of responses that are associated withthe current theme; and providing the selected type of response.
 117. Themethod of claim 116 wherein the represented contextual situations arecontextual situations of a user of a computing device, and wherein theselected type of response is provided to the user.
 118. The method ofclaim 117 wherein the indication of the current theme is received fromthe user.
 119. The method of claim 117 including receiving currentcontextual information about the user, and wherein the indication of thecurrent theme is based on a determination that the current theme matchesthe received contextual information.
 120. The method of claim 116including receiving current contextual information, and wherein theindication of the current theme is based on a determination that thecurrent theme matches the received contextual information.
 121. Themethod of claim 116 including: receiving an indication of a secondcurrent theme; selecting a second type of response that is one of thetypes of responses that are associated with the second current theme;and providing the selected second type of response.
 122. The method ofclaim 121 wherein the providing of the selected second type of responseis concurrent with the providing of the selected type of response. 123.The method of claim 121 wherein the receiving of the indication of thesecond current theme occurs after the providing of the selected type ofresponse.
 124. The method of claim 121 wherein the indication of thesecond current theme is received from a user to whom the selected typeof response was provided.
 125. The method of claim 116 wherein theproviding of the selected type of response includes presentinginformation to a user that is appropriate to the contextual situationfor the current theme.
 126. The method of claim 116 wherein theproviding of the selected type of response includes providingfunctionality to a user that is appropriate to the contextual situationfor the current theme.
 127. The method of claim 116 including, after theproviding of the selected type of response, receiving an indication tochange the provided type of response in a specified manner, andproviding in response a new type of response that is consistent with theindicated change.
 128. The method of claim 127 wherein the indication tochange the provided type of response is received from a user to whom theselected type of response was provided.
 129. The method of claim 116wherein each of the themes includes multiple indications of distincttypes of contextual information that are present in the contextualsituation represented by the theme.
 130. The method of claim 129 whereineach of the multiple indications of distinct types of contextualinformation includes an indication of a contextual attribute and of atleast one possible value for the contextual attribute.
 131. The methodof claim 116 wherein each of the themes has at least one associatedtheme layout that specifies types of information appropriate to thecontextual situation represented the theme, and wherein the providing ofthe selected type of response for the current theme includes presentingthe types of information specified by one of the theme layoutsassociated with the current theme.
 132. The method of claim 131 whereineach of the theme layouts further specify presentation logic to adaptpresentation of the specified types of information based on a currentcontext at the time of the presentation, and wherein the presenting ofthe specified types of information for the one theme layout includesusing the specified presentation logic for the one theme layout to adaptthe presented information to the current context at the time of thepresenting.
 133. The method of claim 132 including, after the presentingof the specified types of information for the one theme layout,modifying the presented specified types of information by using thespecified presentation logic for the one theme layout to adapt thepresented information to changes in the current context.